Military intelligence arrest two lawyers in An-Nahud in West Kordofan
Lawyers allegedly targeted for anti-war views
Military Intelligence of the 81st Brigade of the 5th Infantry Division, based in An-Nahud, West Kordofan, arrested two lawyers on Tuesday morning, July 9, bringing the to the brigade headquarters.
Hatem Gad Al-Rab, a lawyer and member of the Democratic Alliance of Lawyers in West Kordofan State, told Sudan War Monitor that a heavily armed military intelligence force on board a four-wheel drive vehicle, on Tuesday morning arrested Abdel Fattah Suleiman Youssef and Abdel Rahim Juma Al-Imam, both lawyers, from their offices in the market.
He said this happened after SAF supporters posted on Facebook calling on military intelligence to arrest them and described them as sympathizers of the Forces of Freedom and Change, an anti-war political party.
Lawyer Jad al-Rab said that he visited the two detainees, who told him that they had been kicked and insulted and accused of working to provide information to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to lure them into invading al-Nahud.
The city is one of only a few areas in the Kordofan region still under control of the Sudan Armed Forces, while the RSF dominate most of the region.
According to the lawyer, the two defendants have not been charged. On behalf of the Democratic Alliance of Lawyers in West Kordofan State, Lawyer Jad Al-Rab called on military intelligence to release them immediately or transfer them to the police station, where they can receive charges against them, and submit them to a fair trial.
Mass arrests in Sudan, without due process, have become common. Detainees are often targeted for their political affiliation or ethnicity, on suspicion of aiding the Rapid Support Forces, which rebelled against the army last year.
The joint forces in An-Nahud, consisting of the army, the unified police, the General Intelligence Service, and the reserve forces, had previously carried out a large campaign of arrests, targeting activists, civil society, members of the resistance committees and the Forces of Freedom and Change.
Additionally, last June, they arrested members of a popular delegation from the Jabaarah area of Al-Nuhod locality, because they have been calling for an end to the war between the army and the RSF. The detainees included a number of clerics and leaders of the civil administration in the region.