African Human Rights CLA 2.0

379/09 Monim Elgak, Osman Hummeida and Amir Suliman (represented by FIDH and OMCT) v Sudan Communication 379/09 - Monim Elgak, Osman Hummeida and Amir Suliman (represented by FIDH and OMCT) v Sudan Summary of the Complaint 1. The Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Secretariat) received a Complaint on 10 November 2009 from Mr. Monim Elgak, Mr. Osman Hummeida and Mr. Amir Suliman (the Complainants) represented by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) against Sudan (the Respondent State). 2. The Complainants submit that they are prominent human rights defenders who have had a close working relationship with each other at the time of the incident. According to the Complainants, Mr. Osman Hummeida, a British national of Sudanese origin, was the Director of the Sudan Organization against Torture (SOAT) from 1996 to 2006. Since then, he worked as a human rights consultant and advocate. Monin Elgak has worked as a human rights researcher and advocate in the Middle East, Sudan and Uganda, while Mr. Amir Suliman worked for the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRED) until February 2009, when it was shut down by the Sudanese authorities. 3. The Complainants allege that on 24 November 2008, National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) officers in Khartoum arrested Mr. Amir Suliman at KCHRED offices and took him to an area close to the Central Khartoum Police Station, where they arrested the other two. 4. The Complainants state that on the same day, they were taken to the NISS headquarters, a building near Khartoum North Bus Station (Shendi) (hereinafter NISS offices), where they were met by three NISS officers - Ismail Omar, who had led the arrest, and by another officer who introduced himself as Wad Al Nour, and by one other officer - who questioned them for about four hours about their political background, education and current employment. The Complainants state that after the questioning they were separated. 5. Later, according to the Complainants, the officers turned hostile when they denied any knowledge about the existence and whereabouts of two bags and two laptops that supposedly contained incriminating information about Mr. Osman Hummeida's and Mr. Monim Elgak's alleged cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Mr. Amir Suliman was questioned about his relationship with the two other Complainants and the work of the KCHRED whereas Mr. Monim Elgak was interrogated about his alleged involvement in ICC related work. Mr. Osman Hummeida was taken outside to search Mr. Monim Elgak's car parked outside and after an unsuccessful search he was taken inside and was punched and forcibly grabbed by the neck by the three officers. 6. The Complainants aver that Mr. Amir Suliman and Mr. Monim Elgak were later released whilst Mr. Osman Hummeida was interrogated for about an hour, and after he denied having a working relationship with the prosecutor of the ICC, he was taken in a van with a grill and darkened windows to Block G of the Eastern Section of Kober Prison, where he had been held in the early 1990s, and was subjected to long hours of interrogation. The Complainants also claim that the security forces threatened to kill and rape him, and that he was denied access to medical attention although he was suffering from high blood pressure. They state that his request to contact the British Embassy was also denied. 7. The Complainants submit that Mr. Monim Elgak was summoned to the NISS offices on 26 November 2008 where he was severely beaten with plastic pipes and wooden canes by NISS officers until his face was swollen and he was not able to walk. 1