A lawyer and human rights defender was abducted and tortured by an unidentified armed group in Sudan’s Northern State, the Sudanese Bar Association said on Sunday.
The victim, Izdihar Jumaa Saeed, was seized on Oct. 24 in Merowe and taken to Ghnoum, north of Karima, where she was beaten and sustained multiple fractures and injuries, the association said in a statement. She was later abandoned in a remote area on the road to Abu Hamad and found by passersby who transported her to a hospital.
The Bar Association condemned the attack as a “dangerous shift” in the nature of crime in the region, highlighting the perpetrators’ disregard for state authority. A legal committee has been formed to pursue legal action.
The Darfur Bar Association also denounced the incident, expressing concern over the increasing threats faced by human rights defenders. Saeed had been providing legal aid to people from Darfur facing arbitrary arrest and had spoken out against abuses they suffered.
Saeed is a former leading member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the coordinator of the “Awn Nazih” initiative, which provides aid to people displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
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https://sudantribune.com/article292613/
Statement of the African-European Organization for Humanitarian Action and Development
Condemnation of the Kidnapping and Assault on Attorney Ms. Izdihar Juma’a Said
October 28, 2024
The African-European Organization for Humanitarian Action and Development expresses its strong condemnation of the heinous assault inflicted on Attorney Izdihar Juma’a Said, an established lawyer and notary practicing since the early 1990s and a former Member of Parliament for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North. On October 24, 2024, an armed group abducted Ms. Izdihar from Merowe, Northern State, and forcibly transported her to Ghanoum, north of Karima. There, she was subjected to a brutal assault that resulted in fractures to her hands, multiple injuries across her body, and facial swelling. She was left fighting for her life in an isolated area until she was found by gold prospectors who, by chance, discovered her and urgently transported her to the hospital for necessary medical care.
This incident marks a dangerous escalation in the type of crimes perpetrated against activists and human rights defenders in areas controlled by the Sudanese army, where attacks on lawyers and obstructions to their practice are increasingly common. Reports indicate that this assault is connected to a case Ms. Izdihar was handling, wherein her client provided an audio recording that documented a police officer, affiliated with the Islamic Movement, soliciting a large bribe to dismiss the case. Upon Ms. Izdihar’s submission of a formal complaint against the officer for soliciting the bribe, she faced repeated threats intended to pressure her into withdrawing the complaint—threats she steadfastly refused to heed.
On the day of the incident, Ms. Izdihar had left the courthouse in Karima and taken a taxi back to Merowe. During the journey, her vehicle was intercepted by a car carrying four members of the police force, who stopped the taxi, forcibly removed her in a demeaning manner, and took her to a remote location. There, the implicated officer pressured her to drop the complaint; when she refused, he and other officers assaulted her severely.
The African-European Organization for Humanitarian Action and Development calls on all international and regional human rights organizations to urgently intervene to hold the perpetrators accountable for this appalling crime, and to ensure the protection of lawyers and human rights defenders from such abuses, which contravene international human rights standards and the rule of law. We further demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice for their crimes, including providing Ms. Izdihar with appropriate compensation for the physical and emotional injuries she sustained.
In conclusion, the organization reaffirms its commitment to supporting victims of abuse, exposing all forms of corruption and oppression, and working to ensure respect for and protection of human rights in Sudan and beyond.
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