Amnesty Report On Human Rights Violations In Sudan

20 July 2010 - (Nairobi/Khartoum) – In a report by Amnesty International, entitled Agents of Fear, Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services, NISS is using torture as a means to suppress opposition figures and independent human right campaigners and rights groups.

The report says that NISS uses a variety of torture methods including beating detainees who are being held upside down against a wall, whipping, and sleep deprivation, electric shocks, kicking and stamping on detainees and beating them with water pipes.

In support of the report, A Sudanese human rights activist said that there are still hundreds of human rights violation cases that have not yet been documented in Sudan.

Faisal al-Bagir spoke to SRS from Nairobi on Tuesday.

[Faisal al-Bagir]: “Violation of human rights in Sudan is a reality and unfortunately it is a bitter fact. The government has been consistently denying it and lying about it. Human rights violations in Sudan prevail everywhere, in Khartoum, Darfur, Kagbar, Port Sudan and everywhere in Sudan. These violations are documented and its victims exist; the examples of violations that were mentioned in this report are just but a few. There is large number of violation cases which have not been documented until now. We in the Journalists for Human Rights Organization have documented hundreds of violation cases against journalists, human rights activist and ordinary citizens.”

The Minister of Information in the government claims that Sudan is being targeted by international organizations.

The advisor to the Minister of Information, Dr. Rabie Abdulaati spoke to SRS on Friday from Khartoum.

[Rabie Abdulaati]: “It is clear that all the international organizations, Amnesty and whatever has nothing left for them to talk about except Sudan. It is so weird that such organizations just keep themselves busy by claiming that there are crimes, human rights violations, undermining minorities, dictatorships, restriction of freedom of expression and so on in Sudan. But it seems that all these organizations have been politically instructed by the parties that are hostile to Sudan.”

Amnesty International says that the National Security Act must be reformed to address the immunity against arrest which have been granted to NISS agents.