By Osama Mahmoud
image1.jpeg
Today, 02 Feb. 2019, yet another Sudanese killed as a result of brutal torture at the hands of NISS. Ahmed Elkheir Ahmed, a teacher in Khashem Elgirba, East Sudan was detained and then the GoS forces claimed that he died while in detention. However, the autopsy revealed the level of torture he was subjected to in captivity (autopsy report is attached below).
image2.jpeg
Since the start of the latest civil uprising in Sudan which call for the downfall of Bashir (19th December 2018 to date), medical doctors have been at the receiving end of police brutality. The making of the peaceful demonstration represent the cross sections of society including doctors, and the participation of this very group has been beyond the calling of duty. As witnesses of government brutality, they have to put their emotions to one side to be able to deal with causalities of live round of ammunition and brutal beating by police. However, this is not welcome by the government because this brings documentation of these atrocities and violations human rights, and therefore, the practice and the practitioner are not welcomed by the regime. 50+ people were reported killed (among which doctors: Dr. Babiker Abdel Hamid (Junior doctor) and Mahjoub Eltaj (medical student)) and several hundred are detained (including 26 doctors as of 30/01/2019).
The targeting of doctors by the government of Sudan (GoS) is a cemented policy rather than isolated incidents. Back in 1990, April 21st, a few months after Bashir coup d’état (dated 30th June 1989), Dr. Ali Fadul Ahmed, was killed after been subjected to all sorts of torture after spending 52 days in the infamous ghost house, where the National Intelligence and Security Service NISS personal torture and kill people. The death certificate issued minutes after was transferred from ghost house into Omdurman Military Hospital and the cause of death was deemed as due to malaria. The family asked for the body and their intention was to conduct a post mortem to detail the real cause of death. The family of the late Dr. Fadul was put under huge pressure to proceed with the burial process; however, they have managed to send the body for post mortem.
“The autopsy report stated that the cause of death was “a severe head bleeding caused by a concussion resulted from been hit by a sharp and stiff object” (ref. 1).
The full autopsy report was too gruesome, and it exhibited the wickedness of the regime (ref. 1). Dr.Ali was targeted as he started to protest against the new government policies which affected the working conditions for doctors and also undermined the wellbeing of patience. He was actively involved in strikes organised against the Government by the doctors’ union (ref. 2). Investigations into his death was blocked by the attorney general and vetoed by Bashir’s leading revolutionary council.
More atrocious crimes followed over the years have led to the indictment of the sitting president, Omer El-Bashir, by the international Criminal Court on 4th March 2009 for genocide in DARFUR (death toll +300 thousand), war crimes and crimes against the humanity (ref. 3).
As a result of the government of Sudan genocidal campaign in Darfur, the region has been a host of hundreds of IDP (internally displaced people) camps with up to 4 million Sudanese residing there and approximately 2.5 million refugees in the neighbouring countries, with Chad, central Africa and South Sudan hosting large percentage of those Sudanese. IDP camps in particular aretargeted regularly by GoS because they are evidence to what happened in the region and therefore the aim of the movement is to dismantle them or making them not habitable, by restricting/ blocking food supply and preventing medical personal from entering the camps. A numberdoctors were reported missing from Kalma IDP camps in south Nyala, 5 doctors in 2009, and 2 in 2017. Eye witnesses in July 2017 in the camp said that the doctors were kidnapped by pro-government militias because they were practicing medicine and helping the vulnerable people in the camp after people were injured by police and NISS personal as a result of Sudanese in the Kalma IDP refused to welcome Bashir. (ref. 5). A medical team Nyala, capital of south Darfur, rushed to treat the injured only to be kidnapped and there whereabout/ fate is yet to be known because their actions/ good deeds provides evidence of the brutality of the Sudan regime.
The only way for a stable Sudan where people are treated equally and have rights and duties is to oust the current system and on the top of that system is Bashir and his government. Also, there is a huge need to address the major case of Sudan in Darfur, where the genocide is still ongoing; likewise, the other regions were the government of Sudan waged wars against the people in NubaMountains and Blue Nile.
It is important to keep the momentum of thecurrent peaceful protests and feel for one another to reach the aforementioned goals.
Osama Mahmoud,
Head of Comms. for Darfur Union in the UK
Website: https://darfurunionuk.wordpress.com
Email address: [email protected]
Twitter handle: @Darfurunionuk
Ref. 1: Dr. Ali Fadul – Details of Detention and Tortures.
Ref. 2: Torture of Dr. Ali Fadul
Ref. 3: Islamic Militants Dominating Sudan, Exiles Assert
Ref. 4:- The Prosecutor vs. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir – ICC-02/05-01/09
Ref. 5:- Kalma IDP Refusal To Welcome Bashir Met with a Massacre in South Darfur at the Hands of the Government of Sudan