I received a press release from one of our partners in the Middle East, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, at the end of last week. The release in Arabic highlights a statement by 12 Sudanese human rights organization that sounds the alarm on retaliatory actions taken by the Sudanese government against certain organizations in the lead up to the International Criminal Court’s decision.
Recently, the bank accounts of some groups have been frozen and there are also daily raids by the security services of the offices of some of these organizations. These human rights organizations are calling for the protection of not only their organizations but also their rights in Sudan – particularly in the aftermath of comments by Lt. General Salah Gosh, the head of Sudan’s National Security and Intelligence Service. On February 21, he added to a series of recent threats from the Sudanese government, warning, “Anyone who attempts to put his hands to execute [ICC] plans we will cut his hands, head and parts because it is a non-negotiable issue.”
Of course, this is not the first time that Sudanese human rights organizations have been harassed. The statement recalls the government’s detention of three human rights activists in late November 2008. They were tortured and interrogated about their relationship with the ICC and then finally released with future charges pending.
These threats and harassment make clear that Sudanese political space is severely limited. The security agents and censors enforce redlines such as advocacy around the ICC – but there are also other issues such as the ongoing military campaigns in Darfur where advocates and the press in Sudan operate with self-censorship. It is for this reason that Save Darfur and other organizations and activists continue to help promote messages of distress like this one from Sudanese human rights organizations to the greater international community.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
