AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE

January 2, 2008

(New York)--Amnesty International USA expressed relief today over the release of 30 individuals who were imprisoned in Sudan for their alleged connections to a sabotage plot against the government. The individuals were tortured, denied medical treatment, and held incommunicado since July 2007 when they were imprisoned in Kober prison and at military headquarters in Khartoum.

In a speech on Monday, December 31, marking the 52nd anniversary of Sudan's independence, President Omar al-Bashir announced that he had pardoned the 30 prisoners and that they had been released.

The prisoners included Abdel Jalil Basha, General Secretary of the Umma Reform and Renewal Party; Basha's secretary, Ahmad Salmann; and two former Army officers, Tawer Osman Tawer and Yaqoub Yahya.

Amnesty International had mobilized its global network of activists to appeal to the government of Sudan for the prisoners' release and had expressed outrage over the torture which the prisoners reported.

"These 30 individuals have been released and the brutality against them has stopped. We are grateful that the immediate cause of their suffering is over," said Lynn Fredriksson, advocacy director for Africa at Amnesty International USA. "Unfortunately, tens of thousands of individuals in the Darfur region of Sudan still suffer under brutal violence that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Without the full and speedy deployment of the UN-AU peacekeeping force to the region, this violence will continue. While we are relieved for the release of these 30 individuals, we strongly urge President Bashir to do everything in his power to expedite peacekeeping operations in Darfur."

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150

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