Human Rights in Sudan - Persecution of Human Rights Defenders

Persecution of Human Rights Defenders

In the period from 2003 to 2011, Mudawi Ibrahim Adam was repeatedly arrested for charges related to his human rights work with the group Sudan Social Development Organization. These arrests were protested by groups including Human Rights Watch, Front Line, and Amnesty International, the latter of whom named him a "prisoner of conscience."

On 5 March 2009, the same day that President Omar al-Bashir was indited by the ICC, the Sudanese government ordered the closure of SUDO, and its offices were taken over by state security forces. The New York Times reported that the letter closing the offices "came from the Humanitarian Affairs Commission, which is run by Ahmed Haroun, one of the people facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for mass slaughter in Darfur." The Sudanese government simultaneously expelled "the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam UK, CARE, Mercy Corps and the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders. Mudawi and SUDO appealed their closure in court, winning the appeal in April 2010. However, according to a 2011 SUDO press release, the organization remains effectively closed: "in Sudan you can win a case but nothing changes. SUDO’s offices remained locked, its assets remained frozen, and the organization in Sudan was not allowed to resume operations."