(Al Arabyia) Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was arrested on Saturday on charges that could lead to the death penalty, a government official said, a move that could hurt efforts to ease political tensions before elections due next year. “I spoke to my grandfather’s lawyer and he said charges of halting the constitutional system and inciting hatred against the state were added and their penalties range from life in prison to death,” al-Mahdi’s granddaughter Mariam told Reuters. A government official, who declined to be named, confirmed al-Mahdi’s arrest and the possible punishment he could face and said the investigations into him would start on Sunday. In response to the arrest, the Umma party cancelled national dialogue talks called by the president, that were meant to ease tension among Sudan’s political parties ahead of parliamentary and presidential polls due next year, especially over the handling of Darfur. No firm date had been set for the talks. It called on supporters to protest against the detention.
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Sudan arrests opposition leader al-Mahdi, could face death penalty
(Reuters) Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was arrested on Saturday on charges that could lead to the death penalty, a government official said, a move that could hurt efforts to ease political tensions before elections due next year.The public prosecutor had in the past days already opened an investigation into accusations that he insulted state security forces over a surge in violence in the troubled Darfur region.Al-Mahdi’s personal assistant and office manager, Mohamed Zaki, told Reuters two security officers came to al-Mahdi’s office, in his home in Khartoum, at 8:45 p.m. and arrested him without giving any reason.
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Ansar sect warns government against harming al-Mahdi
(Sudan Tribune) Al-Ansar sect, the religious arm of Sudan’s National Umma Party (NUP) warned the government today against inflicting any harm on al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, a day after he appeared for questioning on statements he made on Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last week. The lead of Friday prayers at the Ansar Mosque in Wad-Nubawi on Friday, Adam Ahmed Youssef, stressed in the sermon that the Sudanese government will be held responsible for any harm that to al-Mahdi. Youssef announced that the NUP is preparing itself for the possibility of a government crackdown and a return to era of arrests and suppression of freedoms. He added that the government proved beyond any doubt that it does not wish to engage in a meaningful dialogue and has little tolerance for dissent.
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AU mediator meets with Sudanese political parties to push forward national dialogue
(Sudan Tribune) The head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki, has held intensive meetings with government officials, opposition leaders, and civil society organizations in Khartoum on Saturday in order to push forward the national dialogue. He met with the ruling National Congress Party’s (NCP) deputy chairman, Ibrahim Ghandour, the leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP), Hassan Al-Turabi, the chairman of the Reform Now Party (RNP), Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Attabani, besides several civil society organizations and activists including the former SPLM leading figure, Mansur Khalid. The chairman of the opposition alliance National Consensus Forces (NCF), Farouq Abu Issa, said Mbeki expressed understanding and support for the NCF’s stance toward the national dialogue, pointing that dialogue should lead to dismantling the one-party regime and establishing a democratic one. Sources which attended one of Mbeki’s meetings told Sudan Tribune that the majority of the participants expressed concern that dialogue procedures are slow and several influential parties didn’t join the process.
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Opposition Forms Committee to Convince Non-Signatories, Armed Movements to Join Dialogue
(Sudan Vision) The opposition parties which announced their acceptance of dialogue set up a committee to liaise with the non-signatories and armed movements including the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) in an attempt to convince them to join national dialogue, said Political Secretary of the Popular Congress Party, Kamal Omer. Omer said dialogue is now imminent especially after members of the National Dialogue Mechanism are named including from government and opposition parties, Omer said.
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Sudan’s oil output falls by 10-20,000 bpd
(Radio Tamazuj) Production of Sudan’s Nile Blend has dropped to around 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from 100,000-110,000 bpd two months ago, an industry source said Friday. It was not immediately clear what had caused the fall in production. Of the total output, around 50,000 bpd is currently processed domestically, the source said, leaving approximately 40,000 bpd or around 1.2 million barrels a month for exports. Production in South Sudan’s Unity State was believed to be still down, after being halted in December due to violence in the region.
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UN concerned over Sudanese woman facing death penalty
(India Blooms) The United Nations human rights office on Friday voiced deep concern about the situation of Meriam Ibrahim, the pregnant Christian Sudanese woman who was sentenced to 100 lashes and to death by a Sudanese court for apostasy and adultery. “We are concerned about the physical and mental well-being of Ibrahim, who is in her eighth month of pregnancy, and also of her 20-month-old son, who is detained with her at the Omdurman’s Women Prison near Khartoum, reportedly in harsh conditions,” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.
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