Front Line is concerned following reports received of the harassment, by the Sudanese National Security Service (SNSS) on 21 November 2007, of the human rights defenders Amir Mohamed Suleiman, Chairperson of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights (KCHR) and Mashair Abdullah Omer, financial officer of the organisation. Madiha Abdullah and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin were also questioned by SNSS on the same day. Madiha Abdullah is a journalist with the daily newspaper al-Ayyam, which has been subject to frequent censorship, and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin was formerly a coordinator for the Sudan Organisation against Torture.

Further Information

Posted 04/12/2007 On the morning of 21 November 2007, two officials from the Political Section of the SNSS arrived at the headquarters of the KCHR and ordered Amir Mohamed Suleiman and Mashair Abdullah Omer to accompany them to the Khartoum North offices of the SNSS, where they were questioned about the financial and administrative affairs of the organisation and detained until approximately 8.30pm. On the same day Madiha Abdullah and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin were also questioned at the SNSS offices. Amir Mohamed Suleiman and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin were ordered to return the following day for questioning with Mashair Abdullah Omer, who was detained for the entire day before being required to present records of KCHR's accounts.

The questioning of Amir Mohamed Suleiman, Mashair Abdullah Omer, Madiha Abdullah and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin comes after a similar incident involving Faisal el-Bagir, a member of the Sudan Organisation against Torture (SOAT), Lemia el-Jaili Abu Bakr, staff member of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Sabah Mohamed Adam, a journalist with al-Ayyam, a daily independent newspaper, who were called in for questioning on 6 and 7 November 2007. They were questioned regarding the funding and administrative structures of their respective organisations.

Front Line is concerned that Amir Mohamed Suleiman, Mashair Abdullah Omer, Madiha Abdullah and Dr Nagib Nagmeldin have been targeted by the Sudanese National Security Service because of their peaceful activities in defence of human rights, and fears that their recent treatment may form part of an ongoing campaign against human rights defenders in Sudan.