DOCSLIB.ORG

Sudan: Rights Activist Detained, at Risk of Torture: Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sudan: Rights Activist Detained, at Risk of Torture: Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma UA: 205/11 Index: AFR 54/021/2011 Sudan Date: 30 June 2011 URGENT ACTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST DETAINED, AT RISK OF TORTURE Sudanese human rights activist, Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma, is being detained in an unknown location. He was arrested on 25 June in Omdurman, Sudan, and has no access to his family or a lawyer. He is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma was arrested in his home in Omdurman, on the outskirts of the Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on 25 June, and is being held in an unknown location. Although he was not in Southern Kordofan when he was arrested, it appears his arrest was in connection with the current conflict in Southern Kordofan. The Sudanese authorities are refusing to confirm where Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma is being held. He is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Forty seven-year-old Bushra Gamar Hussein Rahma is from Talodi, Southern Kordofan, which lies on the border of North Sudan and South Sudan. He is an X-ray technician and the founder of the Human Rights and Development Organization (HUDO) in Southern Kordofan, Sudan. Prior to this, he was the Director of Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) in Nyala, Darfur from 2005 to 2006. He is Nuban, a Sudanese ethnic group, and was the Director of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Darfur from 2006 to 2008. He has not been an active member of the SPLM since 2008. Conflict has escalated in Southern Kordofan since early June 2011 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). The SAF are bombing many towns throughout the region, as well as carrying out house-to-house searches. The Sudanese authorities are targeting members of the SPLM and Nuban people, particularly activists and academics. Suspected SPLM members, and people who appear to be Nuban, are being arrested, harassed and ill-treated by the SAF and the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language: Call on the authorities to either charge Bushra Gamar Hussein with a recognizable criminal offence or release him; Urge the authorities to ensure that Bushra Gamar Hussein is protected from torture or other ill-treatment; Call on the authorities to reveal the whereabouts of Bushra Gamar Hussein and grant him immediate access to family, lawyer, and to any medical treatment he might require; Call on the authorities to immediately end the harassment and detention of Nubans on the basis of their ethnic identity. PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 11 AUGUST 2011 TO: President Minister of Justice And copies to: HE Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir Mr Mohammed Bushara Dousa Minister of Interior Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed Office of the President Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302 Ministry of Interior People’s Palace PO Box 281 Al Nil Avenue PO Box 873 Khartoum, Sudan Khartoum, Sudan Khartoum, Sudan Fax: +249 183 782 541 Fax: +249 183 764 168 Salutation: Your Excellency Salutation: Your Excellency Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. Date: 30 June 2011 URGENT ACTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST DETAINED, AT RISK OF TORTURE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Fighting between the SAF and the northern section of the SPLM broke out on 5 June. Since then, Kadugli, the capital of Southern Kordofan, as well as a number of other locations, have been experiencing ongoing fighting. The bombing of towns and villages, as well as artillery fire, and house-to-house searches, have made much of Southern Kordofan unsafe for civilians, who have fled to other parts of the country and to the Nuba Mountains. Checkpoints have been set up along the roads in Southern Kordofan, and witnesses report that lists of names have been used to target suspected SPLM members and Nuban people. As a result, Nuban people around Sudan have gone into hiding. Despite these dangerous conditions, internally displaced people (IDP) have been told by the various government authorities, including the Governor of Southern Kordofan that they should return home. The Sudanese government has also restricted the ability of humanitarian agencies to move freely and carry out their work effectively. Name: Bushra Gamar Hassein Rahma Gender m/f: m UA: 205/11 Index: AFR 54/021/2011 Issue Date: 30 June 2011 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Evolution and Changes in the Morphologies of Sudanese Cities Mohamed Babiker Ibrahima* and Omer Abdalla Omerb
    Urban Geography, 2014 Vol. 35, No. 5, 735–756, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2014.919798 Evolution and changes in the morphologies of Sudanese cities Mohamed Babiker Ibrahima* and Omer Abdalla Omerb aDepartment of Geography, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10065, USA; bDepartment of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, and Tourism, The University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA (Received 20 March 2013; accepted 17 March 2014) This article investigates the morphological evolution of Sudanese cities. The study of morphology or urban morphology involves consideration of town planning, building form, and the pattern of land and building utilization. Sudan has a long history of urbanization that contributed to the establishment of an early Sudanese civilization and European-style urban centers that have shaped the morphology of today’s cities. We identify three broad morphologies: indigenous, African-Islamic, and European style (colonial). The ongoing, rapid urbanization of African cities in general and Sudanese cities in particular points to a need to understand the structure of this urbanization. The morphology of cities includes not only physical structure, but the cultural heritage, economic, and historical values on which it is based. Therefore, preservation, redeve- lopment, and urban policy underlying future urban expansion must be based on the nature of cities’ morphologies and development. Keywords: urban morphology; indigenous cities; African-Islamic cities; European- style cities; Sudan Introduction The objective of this study is to investigate the evolving urban morphology of several Sudanese cities. Sudan has a long history of urbanization, beginning at the time of the Meroitic kingdom that flourished in the central part of the country from approximately 300 BCE to 350 CE (Adams, 1977; Shinnie, 1967).
    [Show full text]
  • Forts of North Omdurman: As a Satellite Defence of the Main Centre
    SUDAN & NUBIA can be built during long sieges of well-defended towns or Forts of North Omdurman: as a satellite defence of the main centre. However, in the case of the North Omdurman forts, the enclosures are of First season of fieldwork in approximately the same size. Hosh el-Kab is slightly bigger Hosh el-Kab and Abu Nafisa that the others but not significantly so. It is more probable that they functioned in different cir- Mariusz Drzewiecki, Aneta Cedro, Robert Ryndzie- cumstances which could have been the result of rapid political wicz, Elmontaser Dafaalla Mohamed Elamin change. If all of those forts were built in the early medieval period, there were many important events that might have Elmoubark and Włodzimierz Rączkowski led people to erect not one, but three, defensive sites. It is difficult to answer why succeeding architects did not use the In January 2018, a team of Polish and Sudanese researchers earlier, already standing forts. Why bother to erect a new one? began fieldwork as part of a new research project launched by Had the previous defences been destroyed? The forts today the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish are in various states of preservation, but this could be the Academy of Sciences. The aim of the project is to understand result of centuries of human activities and natural events, who constructed a number of forts of regular plan in Upper and that is why these questions remain open. Nubia and why. Three sites were selected for field research, Alternatively, what if the forts were constructed in differ- all located in the North Omdurman district (Figure 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Sudan, Imperialism, and the Mahdi's Holy
    bria_29_3:Layout 1 3/14/2014 6:41 PM Page 6 bria_29_3:Layout 1 3/14/2014 6:41 PM Page 7 the rebels. Enraged mobs rioted in the Believing these victories proved city and killed about 50 Europeans. that Allah had blessed the jihad, huge SUDAN, IMPERIALISM, The French withdrew their fleet, but numbers of fighters from Arab tribes the British opened fire on Alexandria swarmed to the Mahdi. They joined AND THE MAHDI’SHOLYWAR and leveled many buildings. Later in his cause of liberating Sudan and DURING THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM, EUROPEAN POWERS SCRAMBLED TO DIVIDE UP the year, Britain sent 25,000 troops to bringing Islam to the entire world. AFRICA. IN SUDAN, HOWEVER, A MUSLIM RELIGIOUS FIGURE KNOWN AS THE MAHDI Egypt and easily defeated the rebel The worried Egyptian khedive and LED A SUCCESSFUL JIHAD (HOLY WAR) THAT FOR A TIME DROVE OUT THE BRITISH Egyptian army. Britain then returned British government decided to send AND EGYPTIANS. the government to the khedive, who Charles Gordon, the former governor- In the late 1800s, many European Ali established Sudan’s colonial now was little more than a British general of Sudan, to Khartoum. His nations tried to stake out pieces of capital at Khartoum, where the White puppet. Thus began the British occu- mission was to organize the evacua- Africa to colonize. In what is known and Blue Nile rivers join to form the pation of Egypt. tion of all Egyptian soldiers and gov- as the “scramble for Africa,” coun- main Nile River, which flows north to While these dramatic events were ernment personnel from Sudan.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 3: an Eco-Systemic Construct of Northern Riverain Sudan
    University of Pretoria etd – Osman, A O S (2004) CHAPTER 3: AN ECO-SYSTEMIC CONSTRUCT OF NORTHERN RIVERAIN SUDAN 3.1 SUB PROBLEM 2 The study context needs to be identified eco-systemically. This needs to be initiated by the articulation of social, political, cultural and religious descriptions and the identification of the recurring themes in the literature of the region. 3.2 HYPOTHESIS 2 It is believed that through the eco-systemically based identification of recurring themes in the literature of/on the region, essential and incidental attributes of the place and culture can be articulated. This can become a tool in interpretation of tangible/ intangible artefacts, spatial interventions, and social practice. 3.3 OUTLINE OF CHAPTER 3 This chapter is initiated by looking at the history of the region. The reasons behind the delimitation of the area of study are articulated and justified. The recurring themes are then expressed through an intensive literature review. The origins of the people are explained and elaborated. The identity of the northern riverain people is established as a political and a religious concept. The northern Sudanese riverain people are thus introduced. 3.4 THE CONTEXT: ITS HISTORY AND ITS VALIDITY AS AN AREA OF STUDY Three main civilizations lived on this land, extending along the Sudanese Nile valley from the present northern border with Egypt to the town of Sennar on the Blue Nile and Kosti on the White Nile: the Kushites, the Meroites and the Funj (refer to Table 3.1). The Kushites had their centres at Kerma and then at Napata.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Architecture for Sustaining Local Identity of Cultural Landscapes: a Study of Water Front Development in Khartoum, Sudan
    International Journal of Development and Sustainability Online ISSN: 2168-8662 – www.isdsnet.com/ijds Volume 4 Number 1 (2015): Pages 29-59 ISDS Article ID: IJDS14072701 Urban architecture for sustaining local identity of cultural landscapes: A study of water front development in Khartoum, Sudan Mohammad H. Refaat * Landscape Architecture Professor, Department of Urban Design Faculty of Urban & Regional Planning, Cairo University, Egypt Abstract Landscape is an indicator of common heritage as a combination of natural and cultural heritage. The of Landscape Architecture profession hosts several levels of intervention, starting from the planning level, the designing level, land suitability and water resources. This is done by applying scientific methods such as, ecological, economical, and social processes. Landscape is important as it provides the setting for our everyday lives. It is not only defined as a place of special interest nor does it refer solely to the countryside. It is the result of how people have interacted with the natural, social and cultural components of their environment and how they then perceive these. In recent years the land uses within the cities have been changing rapidly due to the various development pressures, and the tendency towards replacing all open spaces, public activities, and recreation areas to commercial and industrial uses has been enormous. The main objective of this research is to introduce an urban landscape design approach in dealing with cities waterfronts as a tool to enhance the overall sustainable the cultural landscape local identity within the urban structure of the city, taking the city of Khartoum, Sudan as a case study.
    [Show full text]
  • Revisiting the Conflict Between Mahdist Sudan and Christian Ethiopia, 1885-1889 Iris Seri-Hersch
    ’Transborder’ Exchanges of People, Things and Representations: Revisiting the Conflict between Mahdist Sudan and Christian Ethiopia, 1885-1889 Iris Seri-Hersch To cite this version: Iris Seri-Hersch. ’Transborder’ Exchanges of People, Things and Representations: Revisiting the Con- flict between Mahdist Sudan and Christian Ethiopia, 1885-1889. International Journal of African His- torical Studies, African Studies Center at Boston University, 2010, 43 (1), pp.1-26. halshs-00460373 HAL Id: halshs-00460373 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00460373 Submitted on 2 Mar 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. International Journal of African Historical Studies Vol. 43, No. 1 (2010) 1 “Transborder” Exchanges of People, Things, and Representations: Revisiting the Conflict Between Mahdist Sudan and Christian Ethiopia, 1885–1889* By Iris Seri-Hersch IREMAM-Université de Provence, France ([email protected]) The intertwined history of Sudan and Ethiopia in the late nineteenth century has received relatively little attention in the literature, and the few studies that focus on Sudanese- Ethiopian relations in the Mahdist period (1885–1898) consist of political histories fed by military and diplomatic events.1 Most of these otherwise valuable works lack transboundary perspectives that examine interaction and exchange patterns in specific border zones of Sudan and Ethiopia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe
    The Archaeological Sites of The Island of Meroe Nomination File: World Heritage Centre January 2010 The Republic of the Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums 0 The Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe Nomination File: World Heritage Centre January 2010 The Republic of the Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums Preparers: - Dr Salah Mohamed Ahmed - Dr Derek Welsby Preparer (Consultant) Pr. Henry Cleere Team of the “Draft” Management Plan Dr Paul Bidwell Dr. Nick Hodgson Mr. Terry Frain Dr. David Sherlock Management Plan Dr. Sami el-Masri Topographical Work Dr. Mario Santana Quintero Miss Sarah Seranno 1 Contents Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………. 5 1- Identification of the Property………………………………………………… 8 1. a State Party……………………………………………………………………… 8 1. b State, Province, or Region……………………………………………………… 8 1. c Name of Property………………………………………………………………. 8 1. d Geographical coordinates………………………………………………………. 8 1. e Maps and plans showing the boundaries of the nominated site(s) and buffer 9 zones…………………………………………………………………………………… 1. f. Area of nominated properties and proposed buffer zones…………………….. 29 2- Description…………………………………………………………………………. 30 2. a. 1 Description of the nominated properties………………………………........... 30 2. a. 1 General introduction…………………………………………………… 30 2. a. 2 Kushite utilization of the Keraba and Western Boutana……………… 32 2. a. 3 Meroe…………………………………………………………………… 33 2. a. 4 Musawwarat es-Sufra…………………………………………………… 43 2. a. 5 Naqa…………………………………………………………………..... 47 2. b History and development………………………………………………………. 51 2. b. 1 A brief history of the Sudan……………………………………………. 51 2. b. 2 The Kushite civilization and the Island of Meroe……………………… 52 3- Justification for inscription………………………………………………………… 54 …3. a. 1 Proposed statement of outstanding universal value …………………… 54 3. a. 2 Criteria under which inscription is proposed (and justification for 54 inscription under these criteria)………………………………………………………… ..3.
    [Show full text]
  • General Gordon's Last Crusade: the Khartoum Campaign and the British Public William Christopher Mullen Harding University, [email protected]
    Tenor of Our Times Volume 1 Article 9 Spring 2012 General Gordon's Last Crusade: The Khartoum Campaign and the British Public William Christopher Mullen Harding University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.harding.edu/tenor Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Mullen, William Christopher (Spring 2012) "General Gordon's Last Crusade: The Khartoum Campaign and the British Public," Tenor of Our Times: Vol. 1, Article 9. Available at: https://scholarworks.harding.edu/tenor/vol1/iss1/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Humanities at Scholar Works at Harding. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tenor of Our Times by an authorized editor of Scholar Works at Harding. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GENERAL GORDON'S LAST CRUSADE: THE KHARTOUM CAMPAIGN AND THE BRITISH PUBLIC by William Christopher Mullen On January 26, 1885, Khartoum fell. The fortress-city which had withstood an onslaught by Mahdist forces for ten months had become the last bastion of Anglo-Egyptian rule in the Sudan, represented in the person of Charles George Gordon. His death at the hands of the Mahdi transformed what had been a simple evacuation into a latter-day crusade, and caused the British people to re-evaluate their view of their empire. Gordon's death became a matter of national honor, and it would not go un­ avenged. The Sudan had previously existed in the British consciousness as a vast, useless expanse of desert, and Egypt as an unfortunate financial drain upon the Empire, but no longer.
    [Show full text]
  • Material Related to the Mahdīa International Museum and Archive Holdings of Books, Documents, Clothing, Arms and Armour
    Material related to the Mahdīa International museum and archive holdings of books, documents, clothing, arms and armour Compiled by Fergus Nicoll With thanks to Jane Hogan, Douglas H. Johnson, Michael Medley, Ralph Moore-Morris and Derek Welsby Note: Not all materials listed here are easily accessible to the public. Some archives require written letters of introduction, while many repositories keep their Sudanese collections in storage, with only sample items on display. Many of the institutions detailed below have only modest holdings of Sudan- related memorabilia. Substantial documentary collections are relatively rare, in contrast to the large number of mainly military collections of ‘souvenirs’ from the various battlefields of the British 1896-9 invasion. Army Medical Services Museum Keogh Barracks, Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 5RQ, UK http://www.ams-museum.org.uk/ • Kaskara and sheikh’s ring Bankfield Museum Akroyd Park, Boothtown Road, Halifax, Yorkshire HX3 6HG http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/museums-galleries/bankfield-museum/ • Egypt 1882 (4th/7th Dragoon Guard) Black Watch Castle and Museum Balhousie Castle, Hay Street, Perth PH1 5HR, UK www.theblackwatch.co.uk • Egypt 1882, Suakin 1884, Sudan 1884-5: Banner, relics from 1882, ʿUthmān Diqna’s basket and shawl, water bottles, kaskaras, drum, leather bag, belt knives, spears, shield, painting, ‘Black Watch at Tel el Kebir’ by A. de Neuville Blair Castle Blair Atholl, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH18 5TH, UK http://www.blair-castle.co.uk/ • The Lord Tullibardine Collection was mainly
    [Show full text]
  • The Mahdiyya, Bib
    BIBLIOGRAPHIES A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE MAHDIST STATE IN THE SUDAN (1881-1898) AHMED IBRAHIM ABU SHOUK The Sudanese Mahdiyya was a movement of social, economic and political protest, launched in 1881 by Mu˛ammad A˛mad b. fiAbd Allh (later Mu˛ammad al- Mahdı) against the Turco-Egyptian imperialists who had ruled the Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Turco-Egyptian administration and established their own ‘Islamic and national’ government with its capital in Omdurman. Thus from 1885 the Mahdist regime maintained sovereignty and control over the Sudanese territories until its existence was terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian imperial forces in 1898. The purpose of this article is first to give a brief survey of the primary sources of Mahdist history, secondly to trace the development of Mahdist studies in the Sudan and abroad, and finally to present a detailed bibliography of the history of the Mahdist revolution and state, with special reference to published sources (primary and secondary) and conference papers. Bibliographic overview The seventeen years of Mahdist rule in the Sudan produced a large number of published and unpublished primary textual sources on the history of the revolution and its state. Contri- butions from ‘Mahdist intellectuals’ in the Sudan were products of the state written in defence of the ideals of Mahdist ideology and the achievements of the Mahdi and his successor, the Khalifa fiAbdallhi. The Mahdi himself left a Sudanic Africa, 10, 1999, 133-168 134 AHMED IBRAHIM ABU SHOUK corpus of literary works, which manifest his own teachings, proclamations, sermons and judgements issued on various occasions.
    [Show full text]
  • Address Numbering System for the City of Khartoum, Sudan
    Address Numbering System for the City of Khartoum, Sudan Ali A Shibrain Department of Resource Analysis, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55404 Keywords: Khartoum, Uniform Addressing System, GIS, Mapping Abstract In the last ten years the city of Khartoum has experienced extremely rapid growth. This growth has created a high demand for a user-friendly infrastructure which allows people to find a specific location. This paper explores solutions GIS can provide to solve the missing address problem which exists in Khartoum, the largest city in Sudan. Additionally, the project establishes a framework for a uniform system which assigns numbers to dwellings, buildings, and businesses for the city of Khartoum to facilitate emergency services, deliveries, and to provide advantages of a uniform addressing system. A customized tool was created in ArcObjects to allow the user to find an exact address by calculating the XY of the desired location within the boundaries of Khartoum. Introduction “A historian of urbanism once described cities as cultural complexes that seem to have sprung up on the banks of a few great rivers. The nucleus of such settlements must have appeared long before the city had come to full maturity. Khartoum seems to conform to this principle. For at a much earlier date before its development into a large urban conglomerate in modern times, a Mesolithic (i.e. Middle Stone Age) flourished on the left bank of the Blue Nile”(Alsunut Development). Khartoum was founded in 1823 by Ali Basha, the Egyptian ruler, and Omdurman was founded in 1884 by Mohammed Ahmed, the “Mahdi.” At that time it was Figure 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Implications of the JEM Attack on Omdurman
    Implications of JEM attack 120508 The Implications of the JEM Attack on Omdurman Introduction 1. The dust has not settled after the fighting in Omdurman on 10 May. The full implications of the attempt to capture the national capital will only become clear in the weeks ahead. Nonetheless it is clear that the attack will have immense reverberations in Sudanese and regional politics. The game has changed. 2. At the time of writing, the rebels have withdrawn from Omdurman and the government is in control of most of the city. But there are JEM units at large in Kordofan which may have other targets in mind, possibly including al Obeid and locations in the Northern State such as Dongola or the Kajbar or Meroe dams. 3. The attack appears to have been a joint exercise by JEM and the Government of Chad. The two leaders—Khalil Ibrahim and Idriss Deby—have become increasingly close and Deby’s denials do not carry credibility. Sudan is now at war with Chad. A third internal partner within the PCP or army is probable though unspecified and unconfirmed. 4. The Sudan government and especially its security leaders have been embarrassed and humiliated by the attack. The al Bashir government is a national security regime and its failure to prevent the attack will undermine its credibility. The security leadership will pay a price in the months ahead. But it is probable that internal reckoning will wait until the government has regained its internal confidence with decisive military action. There is much fighting to be done and in the meantime international leverage is modest.
    [Show full text]