Human Rights Watch called on the authorities to immediately disclose the names and location of all political detainees, including more than 140 members of the banned SPLM-North, Sudan’s main opposition party, and either charge or release them.
“Authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected party members, banned political parties, and restricted media coverage,” the New York-based rights group said in a statement late on Wednesday.
“The clampdown started when a new conflict broke out between Sudanese forces and armed opposition groups on the northern side of the border with newly-independent South Sudan,” it added.
Shortly after fighting erupted in Blue Nile state on September 2, between the army and SPLM-North troops, President Omar al-Bashir declared a state of emergency, sacked the state’s elected governor Malik Agar, who is also the chairman of the SPLM-North, and appointed a caretaker military leader.
The government then banned the party, closed its offices and made sweeping arrests across the country.
The SPLM-North’s secretary general, Yasser Arman, told AFP earlier this week that more than 140 leaders of the party’s leaders were still detained.
“Rather than trying to silence dissent by fear and intimidation, Sudan should promote political debate in the face of its complicated political challenges,” HRW’s Africa director Daniel Bekele said in the statement.
The group highlighted the risk for detainees of ill-treatment and torture, and once again urged the government to curb the powers of the feared National Intelligence and Security Services.
The intelligence services also have a grim reputation for visiting newspapers to demand that articles be removed, or sometimes barring their distribution altogether, another concern raised by the rights watchdog
“In mid-September, security officials warned editors not to publish statements of SPLM-North opposition leaders or rebel leaders from Darfur, where the conflict is now in its eighth year,” HRW said.
In addition to these warnings against critical political comment, since South Sudan’s independence on July 9, Khartoum has cancelled the licences of six newspapers, including the popular Arabic daily Ajras Al-Hurriya, for their alleged “foreign” links to South Sudan.
“These restrictions on press freedom and access to information stifle public dialogue about critical events,” Bekele said.
“It appears Sudanese authorities are seeking to prevent public dialogue and keep information from the public and the international community.”