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