• Urgent Action

Urgent Action Victory! Opposition Activists Released Without Charge (Sudan: UA 75.17)

May 2, 2017

Three political opposition activists, Mohamed Hassan El Bushi, Amin Saad and Motaz Al Ajail, were released without charge on 25 and 30 April. The three had been detained without charge since January and February 2017 because of their political activities and support of protests in November 2016 against economic austerity measures.

Three political opposition activists, Mohamed Hassan El Bushi, Amin Saad and Motaz Al Ajail, were released without charge on 25 and 30 April. The three had been detained without charge since January and February 2017 because of their political activities and support of protests in November 2016 against economic austerity measures.  Motaz Al Ajail, a member of the Sudanese Communist Party, was released without charge on 25 April. He had been arrested while at work in Khartoum by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on 9 January and detained. His computer and two printers were confiscated by NISS when he was arrested. They have not been returned to him. Mohamed Hassan El Bushi, a member of the Sudanese Ba’ath Party, was released without charge on 30 April. He had been arrested by NISS on 10 February in Khartoum and detained. Amin Saad, the Media Secretary of the Socialist Democratic Unionist Party /HASHAD, was also released without charge on 30 April. He had been arrested by NISS on 25 January after he attended a meeting organised by the political opposition umbrella group, the National Consensus Forces (NCF), in Khartoum. He has a chronic kidney disease which deteriorated during his prolonged detention. All three political opposition activists were detained in Kober Prison in Khartoum before their release. Their arrest and detention was linked to their public support for nationwide strikes on 27-29 November 2016, and again on 19 December 2016, in protest against the rise in fuel, electricity, transport, food, and medicine costs in Sudan and the government economic austerity measures that followed. The three are thankful to Amnesty International for campaigning on their case. No further action is requested of the UA network. Many thanks to those who sent appeals. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES