Joint Press Release: TRACKs-affiliated rights defenders sentenced, fined and finally released after ten months of arbitrary detention

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THE OBSERVATORY – JOINTPRESS RELEASE

Paris-Geneva-Kampala,March 8, 2017 – After twenty-four court sessions, the Khartoum Central CriminalCourt sentenced human rights defenders Khalafalla Al-Afif Mukhtar, MidhatA. Hamdan and Mustafa Adam to one-year imprisonment and a fine. The threemen were released on time served after paying their fines. The court decisionexposes the shrinking space in which Sudanese civil society operates, theObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (an FIDH-OMCTpartnership) and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) saidtoday.

OnMarch 5, 2017, Judge Osama Ahmed Abdullah of the Khartoum Central CriminalCourt convicted TRACKs[1] Director KhalafallaAl-Afif Mukhtar and TRACKs trainer Midhat A. Hamdan of dissemination of false information(Article 66 of the Criminal Code) andpossession of immoral material (Article 14 of the Sudan Information Crimes Lawof 2007) and Director of Zarqa Organisation for Rural Development (ZORD) Mustafa Adam of espionage(Article 53 of the Criminal Code). The three were sentenced to the samepunishment: one-year imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 SDG (approx. 7,376Euros) each. Detained since May 2016, the three men were released the followingday from Al-Huda prison in Omdurman after their fines were fully paid.

“Althoughwe welcome the long-awaited release of Khalafalla Al-Afif Mukhtar, Midhat A. Hamdanand Mustafa Adam, we strongly condemn their conviction and the punitivefines handed down and reiterate that they should never have been prosecuted inthe first place”, said Alice Mogwe, FIDH Secretary General.“Furthermore, the court order to legally confiscate the equipment seized by theNational Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) during its raid of TRACKs’premises because these allegedly constitute a danger to the State is veryworrisome”.

Thethree men originally faced charges together with seven other activistsaffiliated with TRACKs in two overlapping criminal cases. The 2016 trialtargeted three other human rights defenders affiliated to TRACKs apart from Mr.Mukhtar, Mr. Hamdan, and Mr. Adam. The three others were not detained throughoutthe course of the trial, and the charges against them were eventually droppedin January 2017. The trial proceedingswere marked by serious concerns not only regarding the baselessness of theleveled charges, but also the non-compliance with international andregional human rights standards on the right to a fair trial, including theright to a public hearing. The defendants were not given a written list of thecharges they face, or copies of the evidence for the alleged crimes in order toprepare a defence for court sessions. A number of civil society activists,including journalists, were obstructed from attending the trial by court policeand subjected to harassment and intimidation, including having their photostaken during court sessions.

“We are deeply concerned thatthe staff and affiliates of TRACKs were targeted for their peaceful engagementin civil society efforts to promote human rights”, said Mossaad Mohamed Ali, ExecutiveDirector of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies. “The presentation of evidence ofpeaceful human activities in support of serious criminal charges highlights thedire situation faced by Sudanese civil society and human rights defenderstoday.”

OnAugust 25, 2016, the detention of Mr. Mukhtar, Mr. Hamdan, and Mr. Adam wasfound to be arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)[2],due to the non-observance of international norms related to the right to a fairtrial.

“Defending human rights is not a crime. This trial was marred byirregularities since the very beginning and this sentence exposes the failureof Sudanese judicial authorities to effectively protect human rights standardsin the country. Moreover, the fact that the three were not released months ago,in line with the UNWGAD opinion, tells a lot about the real aim of theirdetention”, concluded Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 byFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of thisprogramme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union HumanRights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

For more information,please contact:

• FIDH: AudreyCouprie: +33143552518 (Paris)

• OMCT: Chiara Cosentino: +41 22 809 49 39(Geneva)

• ACJPS: Mossaad MohamedAli/ Emily Cody: +256 779584542/ +256 788695068 (Kampala)

[1] TRACKs is a Sudanese NGOproviding training on various topics relating to human rights and informationtechnology. See The Observatory Urgent Appeal SDN 001 / 1016 / OBS 084.6, published on January 20, 2017.

[2] See Opinions adopted bythe UNWGAD at its 76th session, 22-26 August 2016 available at:http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session76/34-2016.pdf