Yasir Mirghani
Yasir Mirghani is a Sudanese human rights defender, pharmacist and head of the Sudanese Consumers Protection Society (SCPS), founded in 1998, which fights corruption and protection of the community from companies’ abuse. Yasir Mirghani is also a member of the Confederation of Civil Society which is a collation of more than 50 human rights organisations in the country.
Human rights defenders are vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). The 2010 National Security Act grants the NISS extensive powers to arrest and detain people up to four and a half months without judicial review, and with complete impunity when the detention is arbitrary. Human rights defenders have been held incommunicado, without access to legal representation, and family visits have been refused without reasons. Detained HRDs have been often held in NISS cells that fall outside the jurisdiction of prisons laws and regulations, where they have also suffered ill-treatment and torture.
