The following is a passage from the report on the section on torture:

“NISS agents use psychological torture as much as physical torture. This is demonstrated by the environment they create during interrogations, the vocabulary they use, as well as some of the methods they rely on to weaken the mental state of their victims and make them more vulnerable and hence more willing to “confess”. The scene of an interrogation was described by many survivors of torture as a stage on which NISS agents perform different roles and where the victim is made to go through various stages of psychological suffering, leading sometimes to a “confession”.

Abdelshakour was moved back and forth between the electric shock room and the hot room until 5 that evening. At 5pm he was taken to another place and made to sit against a wall until 10 pm. At 10 pm, he was taken for another interrogation. Abdelshakour Hashim Dirar was released from NISS detention on 3 September 2008. He now lives in exile.”

Survivors of torture often link a certain feeling, smell or sound to their   memory of torture. One Chadian survivor of torture at the hands of the NISS told Amnesty International that during his detention in Darfur, NISS agents used to play music every time they tortured them. They, the detainees, found it strange because the house in which they were kept was remote and it was unlikely that anyone could hear their screams. “When I asked some people about it after my release, someone told me the reason they did it was to make us relive our torture every time we heard music playing…

At noon the same day, he was taken to the top of the building and exposed to the sun for an hour with his hands tied behind his back. He was then thrown into a room with a hot air conditioning system and no windows. He said that the heat was intolerable and no human being could survive long in it. He was kept there for a few hours, enough to cause damage to his skin. He was then taken out and moved into another room where NISS agents administered electric shocks through his hands and feet. He received eight shocks initially.

“Abdelshakour Hashim Dirar is a lawyer, a member of the Darfur Bar Association, and brother-in-law of Suleiman Sandal Hajjar, a JEM commander. On 14 May 2008, he was arrested from his office in Omdurman by NISS agents in uniform. Around 30 armed men arrived in three vehicles. Ten of them dragged him from his office, blindfolded him and threw him into one of the vehicles. Abdelshakour was held for four months and described being tortured on a regular basis. He said he was held in solitary confinement for long periods, and the door of his cell would open at night and security agents would enter and whip him repeatedly.

Abdelshakour described various methods of torture he suffered in the space of one day:On 17 May 2008, the day after an interrogation in which he denied having any links with the JEM, NISS agents arrived and started beating him. The beating continued for two hours; seven NISS agents were involved, five in uniform and two in plain clothes. They used their bare hands, kicked him and hit him with plastic water pipes.

On the first day of his arrest, Abdelshakour spent almost five hours blindfolded up against a wall and was then taken for interrogation. The NISS agents asked him some questions, then forced him to take off his clothes. That is when the beating started. He was beaten with plastic water pipes and electrical wires. The torture lasted until around 5am the next morning. Abdelshakour fainted three times and was dragged to the bathroom, had water thrown on him to wake him up, and the torture resumed.

Abdelshakour was interviewed by a number of different people during his detention. All questioned him about the JEM’s plans and about traitors within the Sudanese Armed Forces. Every time he repeated that he knew nothing about the JEM he was tortured again.

This new paper really hits at the heart of Sudan’s security state and the repressive tactics of the regime in Khartoum. The following is a passage from the section on arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances, one of the many categories addressed in the Amnesty report:

“According to information collected by Amnesty International from various sources, there are around 200 individuals arbitrarily detained following the Omdurman attack whose fate and whereabouts remain uncertain until the present day. Very little information is available about their conditions and the government of Sudan has not made any official statement acknowledging the detention and whereabouts of these individuals. Amnesty International considers them to be possible victims of enforced disappearance in Sudan.

In April 2010, the government revealed it had buried 108 individuals, all alleged JEM fighters, who were allegedly all killed during the attack on Khartoum. The government reported that DNA tests had been carried out before the deceased were buried but has not yet made public any of the information relating to these individuals.

Hashem Abdelshakour Hashem is the youngest NISS detainee known to Amnesty International. He was only nine months old when he was detained with his mother Zubeida Sandal Hajjar and his aunt Zahra Sandal Hajjar on 8 June 2008. Zubeida Sandal Hajjar’s husband, Abdelshakour Hashim Derar, was a lawyer and member of the Darfur Bar Association who was arrested by the NISS in Khartoum on 14 May 2008 and was being held incommunicado at an unknown location at the time.

NISS agents came to the family home in Khartoum, claiming that they wanted to take Zubeida and Hashem to visit Hashem’s father in detention. Zahra was also asked to accompany them on their visit. However, the NISS agents took the women and child to an unknown detention centre. They were all kept together in incommunicado detention until their release.

The two women are the sisters of a JEM commander, Suleiman Sandal Hajjar. They were held in various NISS detention centres and unofficial places of detention. The women were reportedly interrogated about the whereabouts of their brother every few days.

Their diet was poor and consisted of Sudanese beans. Zubeida said the food was too salty and often inedible. At one point, they were transferred to a detention centre that was reportedly full, and had to spend entire days in the sun. The women were kept at times in a very small and dark cell and had to create a makeshift bed for Hashem with their thowbs. Zubeida described how hard it was for him to sleep on the floor of the cell and that he used to sleep mainly during the day, in her arms.

Hashem suffered an eye infection in detention and was not seen by a doctor. Zubeida was threatened more than once with having Hashem taken from her if she did not “confess” where her brother was. The three were released on 20 August 2008.”

A refugee being interviewed at the Gaga refugee camp

Those who follow the developments in Sudan have undoubtedly heard a plethora of opinions from government officials, policy analysts, journalists, and others about what needs to happen to bring peace to Darfur. But what about the people who have the greatest vested interest in what happens in the region? The people who call Darfur home?

The Darfur conflict research organization 24 Hours for Darfur has given Darfuri refugees a voice in the “Darfurian Voices” report. From April through July 2009, the group’s researchers surveyed 1,872 Darfuri refugees and 280 community leaders in Chad to learn about their views on issues like the conflict’s primary causes, the peace negotiations, and the prospect for peace and justice.

The report reveals interesting findings concerning Darfuris’ views on the conflict that has driven them from their homes and turned them into refugees. 87.5% placed primary blame for the conflict on President Omar al-Bashir, the National Congress Party, the Government of Sudan or on a combination of these actors for the crisis.

The refugees polled in Chad seem optimistic about the likelihood that there will eventually be peace in Darfur. About two-thirds said that they either “strongly or somewhat disagreed” with the notion that peace is not possible in the region. When asked to define the necessary elements of this peace they envision, “security/cessation of violence” (51%), “the signing of a peace agreement” (17%), and “the implementation of justice” (16%) were among the most common responses.

But what did respondents mean when they spoke about “justice” being an indispensable part of peace? This is an especially compelling question in light the International Criminal Court’s July 12^th arrest warrant for President al-Bashir for three counts of genocide. An overwhelming 98% of Darfuri participants in the survey believe that he should appear before the ICC. Some have reportedly alleged that the charges against al-Bashir may endanger the prospect of achieving peace in Sudan. However, only 13% of respondents agreed with this assertion.

The report also includes insight into the Darfuri refugees’ views on democracy, reconciliation, and truth-telling and has profiles of actors involved in the conflict. The organization took the results of their research and applied it to formulating recommendations for state-level and international actors for addressing the crisis in Darfur in hopes of giving these Darfuris a voice in their region’s future. Read further coverage of “Darfurian Voices” in Foreign Policy.

June 26th was the International Day of Victims of Torture and to commemorate that day the Save Darfur Coalition has put together a series of true stories of torture from Darfuri victims. This day and blog are both dedicated to those who have experienced torture around the world and particularly the victims of Darfur. Despite the continuation of large scale attack, burning, looting and displacement, Darfuri students have demonstrated their persistence to continue their education with the hope that one day they might be of help to their people whose lives have been filled with suffering. However, the arrests, abductions, torture and killing remain a threat for Darfuri students coming to study in the capital of Khartoum. Below are a few examples of many attempts to silence Darfuri students through torture and violent intimidation.

Mohamed Musa was a 23 year old from the city of Kabkabiya in North Darfur and a student at Khartoum University. He was abducted on February 10, 2010 from the university after his final exam by the SNISS and taken to an unknown location where he was severely beaten.  His body was found the following day after an entire day of torture, and was taken to a hospital to analyze and find the cause of his death. The national security personnel refused to analyze the body and tried to force his students (colleagues) to take the body and bury it without making any noise. After the consulting with lawyers from Darfur Bar Association, the students refused to receive the body. As a result, 6 students were arrested. Mohamed Musa’s father and mother both mourned and tried to come to Khartoum even though it was expensive and dangerous due to the security situation. Their friends and family raised money but they were only able to buy one plane ticket. His father went to Khartoum but was detained by SNISS who tried to intimidate him into burying his son’s body without searching for the cause of death. After pressure from demonstrations and appeals from pro bono lawyers from the Darfur Bar Association (who provide legal aid to Darfuri victims), Mohamed Musa’s father was finally released. The medical investigation proved that Mohamed Musa was subjected to severe torture. This case illustrates how he went through physical inhumane torture which led to his death and how his father has endured such unimaginable psychological torture. While the SNISS denied that they killed Mohamed Musa, later on they arrested another student from the Grifna campaign in Khartoum during the April elections and showed him photos of Mohammed Musa’s torture and said the same would happen to him if Grifna didn’t stop. That incident alone is a clear indication that the government of Sudan’s security agents had tortured Mohamed Musa to death.

Osman Mohamed Ibrahim Alnugaimi is a 26 year old Darfuri student who just graduated from Khartoum University where he was chairman of the Darfur Student Association. On October 25, 2009, he was hit by a pickup truck driven by the Sudanese government’s security forces and NISS intelligence services and abducted near the University of Khartoum. He was taken to the NISS ghost house, a place with high walls, many dark rooms, and terrifying images of the previously tortured victims. He was interrogated and tortured just for being a Darfuri and a student activist. They told him to stop his activism: “You have to stop being a smart student, we have disciplined many Darfuri people and students; if you don’t stop, we will know how to discipline you as well.” He was severely tortured using different methods. They hung him upside down and hit him in the head and at the ends of his feet. They also tortured him by electric shock, cold water, laying him on a hot solid bar, and hitting everywhere on his body with iron stick. He was verbally assaulted and psychologically tortured with demeaning words that they always use with Darfuri victims.  His family and colleagues looked everywhere but they couldn’t find him. Sadly, he was found the next day thrown under one of the main bridges in Omdurman City near Alzuwada Cafeteria. He was in a very critical situation. He was bleeding and had many injuries, wounds and bruises around his body. He was unable to stand and was taken to the emergency room at the hospital where he remained under intensive care for several weeks.  He was only able to leave the hospital after 3 months. However, he still hasn’t completely recovered from the pain and the psychological impact of the torture.

Away from Khartoum, IDPs (internally displaced persons) are targeted by the Security Forces in the government. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre there are currently at least 4.9 million IDPs in Sudan. Below are examples of government abuses in the IDPs camps.

Duma Idriss Handal was a son of the Darfur village of Um Hyay in North Darfur, 42, a graduate of Faculty of Information at University of Omdurman who was pursuing graduate studies. He was active and involved in the demands of Darfur through just and legitimate writing in local newspapers and addressing seminars and conventions for student groups.  Duma Idriss was repeatedly attacked by the Janjaweed, who are loyal to the government of Sudan in the conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Darfurian armed groups. When the violations began, Duma’s friends and family fled to the Abu Shouk camp for displaced persons near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. He established the camp with his family including his father, mother and sisters. Duma called for a halt to violations blatantly exercised by the Khartoum government and Janjaweed forces loyal to it against innocent and defenseless civilians. He was arrested twice early on in the crisis. The first time was after an armed struggle when he was placed under arrest from 2002-2004 and was subject to the ugliest forms of physical and emotional torture, solitary confinement, beatings, deprivation of food and drink for long periods. After the May 10, 2008 attack by forces of the Justice and Equality Movement on Omdurman and the government’s subsequent crackdown on Darfuri population, the sons of Western Sudan and the sons of Darfur called on the government publicly to stop such violations and to investigate the security service’s behavior against Darfuri civilians in the capital Khartoum, who had used campaigns of maltreatment, harassment, and discrimination. Duma was captured on the May 20^th of that year. His relatives campaigned, called for a lawyer, and contacted the authorities in Sudan asking that he be released or brought to fair trial in accordance with the provisions of the law and the Constitution. After consulting with lawyers, it was confirmed that these actions of the government revealed some information about his detention facilities and his critical health condition as a result of undergoing physical and psychological torture. His brother Adam came from El Fasher for the trial and was only allowed to meet with him after several repeated requests and waiting for permission from Khartoum for more than six months. The situation has now been exacerbated by Duma’s deteriorating health – as a result of physical and psychological torture, including being beaten and kicked in the back, he is suffering from spinal injuries.  Duma is in urgent need of medical care but has been deprived of his right to receive treatment.

Six IDPs from the camps in Abu Shouk and Elsalam in El Fasher have remained in jail for nearly a year. Among them is a woman named Zahara, who is the female head of her household.  As part of the government plan to empty the IDP camps, the governor of North Darfur employed different mechanisms to force the IDPs out of their camps including continuous harassment, arbitrary arrest, and shooting by the Janjaweed. In August of 2009, an Omda, a camp leader, by the name of Omer was killed by the government-allied Janjaweed but the government has used his death as an excuse to threaten and frighten the IDPs into leaving their camps.  In the same week and in connection to that incident, about 16 camp leaders were arrested by the Sudanese government security forces in El Fasher.  They were all beaten, tortured, and starved in an attempt to coerce them into confessing that they were responsible for killing Omer.  They insisted that they didn’t kill him and had no knowledge about the incident. They are all helpless people who lost everything including their family members and are completely depending on aid assistance to survive. Everybody in El Fasher believed that they were innocent and many people from the camps and cities appealed to the government of north Darfur for their release but were refused. Later on in 2009, ten of the camp leaders were released but six still remain in jail. Among them was Zahara, who was forced to leave her children crying after her for days and nights with nobody to look after them in the absence of their mother. The accused IDPs are constantly tortured and starved. They are only given one meal a day and no one from their families has been allowed to visit them. Most of them have been sick with skin diseases because of lack of sanitation and the unhealthy environment of the prison cells. They asked to be allowed to go to the hospital but their request was rejected by the government detention administration. They are continuing to suffer psychological and physical illness without access to medical care and with no prospect for their release. They have performed two hunger strikes with the most recent one beginning on June 2, 2010 and lasting until today. Their lawyer spoke to Radio Dabanga in the Netherlands, and stated that he has searched with the authorities and has not found any legal ground or criminal evidence for their arrest. He appealed to the North Darfur Authority for their release but there has been no mercy or response to his clients’ case to date. Today, they told their lawyer to appeal to the world community who may find a way to help them out of their miserable conditions as well as the psychological and physical torture they are going through.

The quotes below are from other victims of torture:

“When the sunset prayer call (Azzan) echoed in the interrogation chamber, the torturers left me half-conscious on the floor and went to wash their hands of my blood before they prayed. I heard them making jokes about cleaning their hands of the ‘impure blood of this Kaffir’. They always came back to of the ‘impure blood of this Kaffir’. They always came back to finish their /sacred work’ on me”

Mohamed Elgadi

“Through the cracks in the old wooden door of the cell, we saw them dragging him toward the southern wall of the yard. He was blind-folded. We know what was going to happen next. It was another ‘Reception Party’. They started beating him with bamboo sticks, PVC water pipes, and leather whips. When he fell down they started kicking him with their heavy military boots. His loud scream of pains was covered with their monstrous cries of ‘Allahu Akbar,’ ‘hit the atheist,’ ‘kill the Kaffir,’ ‘whip the Satan,’ ‘kick the communist.’ The ‘Party’ lasted for an hour until he became unconscious and then they dragged him to stand and suspended his arms on a tree branch. The picture was very sad and horrible when I saw it through the door: blood mixed with sweat and muddy soil all over his body.”
–Citibank Ghost House Survivor

The referendum is approaching for South Sudan but Darfur is still experiencing scenes of violence. As described above, people from different parts of society in Darfur are experiencing inequality and hostility from the government. Victims of torture do not simply have physical scars but the experience leaves psychological wounds that sometimes can never be cured. The Save Darfur Coalition asks you to commemorate International Day for Victims of Torture and not ignore what these victims have experienced. We must call on world leaders to take serious measures to stop the campaign of torture and other forms of injustice against innocent civilians.

The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur recently reported that “the security situation in Darfur is tense following reports of fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the Justice and Equality Movement”.  Clashes in Darfur have cost almost 600 lives in May 2010, 440 of which were lost in fighting last month between Darfur rebels and government forces, 126 in tribal violence, and 31 in other violence, including murder. This increase in violence comes after the collapse of peace talks between the Government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement. In the past several days, violence between Arab tribes in Darfur has killed 41 people. The spokesperson for the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur stated that in the last couple of months there have been lower numbers of fatalities in Darfur, but in May, there have been an increasing number of clashes. Despite the surge in violent deaths in Darfur, the international community and Sudanese government is planting much of its focus in the upcoming referendum and the rebellions in South Sudan.

The increasing number of clashes is partially due to lack of progress in peace talks between the JEM and the government of Sudan. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir announced on Saturday that the current round of Darfur peace talks would be the final negotiations with any armed group. He claims after this round there will be no legitimacy through guns, only through the ballot box. Amongst others, rebel divisions and fighting have been two of the biggest obstacles to peace talks which started in 2003 and have continued in Chad, Nigeria, Libya and currently in Doha. Since April, Bashir’s security forces have cracked down on what little political freedom opened up during the electoral process, arresting opposition leaders, and cracking down on press and civil society liberties.

While the upcoming southern referendum and the rebellions in South Sudan are understandable distractions for the international community, Darfur continues to face a humanitarian crisis. Darfur’s humanitarian operation is the largest in the world with more than 4 million people requiring aid and costing nearly $1 billion a year, but the fighting and kidnapping of humanitarian workers and UNAMID personnel has forced some agencies to scale down operations and withdraw from certain regions. While it is important for the United States and international community to prepare for the upcoming referendum, this must not overshadow addressing the humanitarian crisis and violence that continue in Darfur.

A.J. Fay recently helped organize the Sudan365 program in Boise, where activists from several cities within the United States and 15 other countries stood in solidarity with the people of Sudan and rose awareness of the possible return of all out violence in the country. A.J. has been a longtime activist in the Sudan movement, and below are his own words about his passion for the people of Sudan.

I first became involved in the Darfur campaign when I was in high school. I joined an Amnesty International chapter and worked on various campaigns, realizing I had a strong interest in human rights advocacy. One day, the ongoing crisis in Darfur came up, and it immediately sparked my interest. I thought, “how genocide could still be occurring systematically in the 21^st century?”  I yearned to learn more, and Save Darfur Coalition served as a resource for my research. I also visited Amnesty International to strengthen my knowledge base, and I was smitten by the resilience of the Sudanese people, their rich culture, and immediately I knew I wanted to be of part of the movement to act as a voice for the people of Sudan. So, through the Save Darfur Web site I found a few people that wanted to meet and discuss how Idaho could create a movement, and it was clear for us all in our hearts that we couldn’t remain idle.

What fuels my passion to continue working to help bring sustainable peace to Darfur and all of Sudan is the personal and working relationships I enjoy with the Darfuris and Sudanese refugees in my community. Boise is a major refugee resettlement and home to three resettlement agencies in town. Truthfully, the Darfuri and Sudanese people give me hope; their strength is inspiring and their stories gripping. I could never give up on the Sudan movement, because I am vested in the long race. This truly is a part of me, and I will work on their behalf until we bring an end to the genocide, rebuild the country, and restore Sudan to a peaceful state and to its citizens.

I wish every activist could get to enjoy the first hand experience of living and working with Darfuris who experienced the genocidal regime of Al-Bashir and can also tell the stories of their agony and those of Sudanese people. I love this movement, the Sudanese people, and the leaders of the movement. I will follow this through the end.

The Pittsburgh Darfur activist community led by David Rosenberg gathered on the steps of city hall to again call for peace in Sudan and hold accountable perpetuators of injustice. City, county, state, and national leaders came with open arms to receive the over 15,000 postcard petitions signed by local concerned citizens pulled from a variety of places including schools, churches, synagogues, and coalition partners.

Political leaders conveyed their shared sentiments about the ongoing crisis in Darfur and Southern Sudan. City Councilman William Peduto announced the City of Pittsburgh’s proclamation honoring the newly resettled Darfuris and “encouraged President Barack Obama to use his influence and that of the United States as head of the UN Security Council to work to finally achieve a solution to the problems of both Darfur and south Sudan.”

More importantly taking the stage were Darfuri refugees from across the nation. In solidarity, Southern Sudanese joined Darfuris in their call for an end to the crisis and issued a joint statement asking world leaders to hold Bashir and the NCP accountable, which have inflicted countless acts of unspeakable horror against their friends and families.

Due to the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition’s advocacy efforts local leaders decried the ongoing atrocities and added their voices to the coalition’s call to action for world leaders convening for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh next week.

Today was a celebration of something not cited in fact sheets or published in research reports. Today was a community being just that – a community; the only commonality shared today was a unanimous call for peace. The movement found new allies in the city of Pittsburgh with the engagement of new activists pulled from the Pittsburgh government, the faith community, and local students just finding their own voices in change.

by Natasha Ghent-Rodriguez and Will Fischer

Click here to listen to her account of the attack.

She concludes, “We are hoping that the international community will help protect us by telling President al-Bashir that this violence against young women is wrong; it’s against both the law and our religion. He should stop this and allow us to continue our education.”

Wejdan Adam, left, and her husband Motasim Adam, with their daughter, Wesal, a four-year-old Darfuri girl who has lived most of her life without her parents in Sudan; she arrived in the U.S. last Monday, reunited through the help of HIAS, the international migration agency of the American Jewish community.

Wejdan greets Wesal upon her arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport. All pictures by Josh Strauss.

The Talmud instructs us that To Save One Life is to Save the Entire World. At HIAS, the international migration agency of the American Jewish community, we witnessed a powerful example of this eternal Jewish teaching last week when a year-long HIAS advocacy campaign to reunite a four-year-old Darfuri girl with her parents came to a joyful conclusion. This young child, Wesal Adam, was separated from her mother and father for much of her life because of a tragic gap in U.S. law.

A connection made through the HIAS Young Leaders educational activities on Darfuri refugees brought to light a profound miscarriage of justice in our current immigration law, and began HIAS’ intense involvement with the family of Motasim, Wejdan, and Wesal Adam. This work, along with our trauma counseling and social service programs for Darfuri refugees in Chad, is part of HIAS’ global effort to help repair the world and our contribution to the Jewish community’s priority campaign to Save Darfur.

Motasim Adam, a Darfuri political activist, was granted asylum in 2002 and later returned to Chad to visit his wife Wejdan who was living in a refugee camp. Arrangements to reunite the family faltered when the Department of Homeland Security ruled that Wejdan could join her husband but that Wesal, who had not been conceived at the time her father received asylum, was barred by law from accompanying her mother to the United States.

Because of the grave dangers facing women in Darfur, where Wejdan ultimately had returned, the family made the gut-wrenching decision to proceed with her immigration and leave Wesal with family friends in a Darfuri Internally Displaced Persons Camp. They believed that this would only be a brief separation.

A HIAS Young Leaders volunteer – who is an attorney at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman – took on this case pro-bono with his firm, representing Motasim Adam in his quest to free his daughter. The attorney, who got to know Mr. Adam when seeking to do outreach to the local Darfuri community with the HIAS Young Leaders group, learned of the appeals, delays, and lack of movement from the Department of Homeland Security and began to assist the Adams. After researching the gap in the law, the attorneys determined that lobbying for the girl’s entry would provide the most expedient solution and approached HIAS for assistance. Working together, HIAS and the Kasowitz, Benson attorneys advocated tirelessly to the government to grant humanitarian parole to Wesal and allow her to join her parents. Through this advocacy, HIAS learned that government officials shared our distress but believed that their hands were tied by the legal requirements. Notwithstanding this, on May 12th HIAS finally received word that DHS had agreed to grant humanitarian parole and that little Wesal would be allowed to come to the United States.

Last Monday, HIAS joined in a tearful reunion at JFK Airport where Wesal was reunited with her mother after more than two years apart. For us, this happy occasion brought back memories of the countless reunions we had witnessed of Soviet Jews joining family in the United States after years in refusal. The following NY Times story, along with video footage of the reunion, depict some of the emotion of this event.

While HIAS struggled to assist the Adam family, we also have highlighted Wesal Adam’s plight as exhibit number one on why the law must be changed. I’m pleased to report that a legislative fix recently passed the House of Representatives and HIAS is working with the Senate so that no more children are forced to suffer the separation from their parents that Wesal experienced.

(NY Times — 6/16/09) – Growing up among strangers in a refugee camp in the Darfur region of Sudan, 4-year-old Wesal Adam knew her parents mostly as faces in photographs and voices on the phone.

She knew that her father, Motasim Adam, and her mother, Wejdan Adam, lived in Brooklyn and that Mr. Adam drove a cab. But she did not know what they felt like or smelled like or how much they loved her — if at all … Read More

On Friday, Sudanese from across the US came together to demonstrate in front of the White House.  Check out a slideshow of photos from the event.

ABC news covered the event:

On Friday, a small group of Sudanese immigrants gathered in front of the White House to express their disappointment in Obama for not being active enough on Darfur from the outset of his presidency.

“I voted for him,” said protestor William Deng, of the Southern Sudan Project. “And I did it because I knew he was going to do something about Darfur. But now he’s silent, he’s never done anything. And I feel, I regret that he doesn’t do anything about our issues.”

At the event we delivered over 86,000 signatures to the citizen open letter to President Obama.  A member of the Administration came out to accept the signatures and hear from the group.

The Sudan Tribune reported:

Dozens of US activists and members of the Sudanese diaspora marched in front of the White House on Friday just days before two members of the US Senate arrived in Khartoum to meet with top aides of President Omer Al-Bashir.

Protestors held signs saying “Save Lives Now”, “El Bashir & NCP to ICC”, “Restore Aid Now,” and “End the Genocide.”

Check out coverage from Voice of America:

And a post from our partners at Enough!

Photo credit Natasha Ghent-Rodriguez.