could not bring lawsuits against government officials under Article 27 of the
Criminal Procedure Act, the Commission held that this did not provide an
effective remedy for the victim. 28 The Commission has held that such
immunities restrict the exhaustion of domestic remedies, unless a preliminary
investigation was undertaken, noting that by failing to conduct this
investigation, any remedies which theoretically existed were rendered
redundant, and neither adequate nor effective. 29 The Commission has also held
that a state of emergency may render it impossible for the victim to exhaust
domestic remedies.30
96. From the submissions of the Parties it is clear that there has been no substantive
change in the approach of the law in Sudan in relation to the immunities of
police and the NISS since these previous decisions of the Commission. The State
attempts to prove the contrary through the provision of information that 300
cases in the preceding two years in which immunities were in fact lilted,
however, given the uncontested submissions of the Complainant that the lifting
of immunities in law remain at the discretion of the police authorities and that
there is no procedure for the courts to review this decision, this renders this
remedy discretionary, which cannot guarantee an impartial process and which
does not function on the basis of legal principles. Also, since the reported
violation had allegedly been committed by the police/NISS, it is improbable to
expect that a further report to the authorities, apart from the one already
submitted to the prison authorities, would result in any further action on the
part of these same state organs who are accused of perpeb·ating the violations.
97. In addition, in his original Complaint the Complainant indicated that under the
Emergency Law, the Governor of the State holds the discretionary power to
arrest individuals suspected of involvement in crimes relating to the declaration
of emergency, and that while arrest pursuant to this power is made
provisionally, the law does not set any time limits for the detention or provide
for judicial oversight. The State has not refuted this statement. The Commission
is thus of the view that even if there had been a possibility for the lifting of the
immunities, this would still not have resulted in an adequate remedy, as the
applicability of the Emergency law means that there is no legal basis to contest
the arbitrary arrest, which is one of the violations complained of. This thus
refutes the argument of the State that the judicial system of Sudan is easily
effective, since the alleged violations are not protected under the applicable law
and thus not enforceable/ remediable by the judicial system.
28 Communication 386/ 10 - Dr. Farouk Mohamed fbrahim (represented by REDRESS) v. SudalL, 18 October
2013, para 60.
29 Communication 368/ 09 - Abdel Hadi, Ali Radi & Others v Republic of Sudan, 4 June 2014, para 48.
30 Communication 386/10 - Dr. Faro11k Mohamed [brahim (r ,
~-!;::I:.~ ~
) v. Suda11, 18 October
2013, para 54. ln this case the victim was unable to approa
ree which governed
his arrest and detention set out that no reasons for the a ~~~
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they had no right to
ts.
contact their family or lawyer, nor the ability to challeng
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