His Excellency Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace
P.O. Box 281
Khartoum, Sudan
Your Excellency:
I am writing to you as the Chair of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) in the United States to request your assistance with the case of Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a Sudanese engineer and prominent human rights activist, who has been detained for nearly three months in Kober prison in Khartoum without charge. The Committee on Human Rights is joined in this request by xx other distinguished members of the National Academies, who asked that their names be added to this letter. As you can see from the number of signatories, Dr. Mudawi’s situation is of great concern to many Academy members.
Dr. Mudawi was taken into custody, along with his driver, Adam El Sheikh Mukhtar, by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on December 7, 2016 at Khartoum University, where he works as an engineering professor. Later that month, Nora Obeid, an accountant at Dr. Mudawi’s engineering company, was also detained by security agents. To date, none of these individuals has been informed of the reasons for their detention. It is our understanding that Dr. Mudawi is among dozens of activists who have been taken into custody in connection with peaceful protests concerning governmental policy that took place in late 2016. There is widespread concern that Mr. Mukhtar and Ms. Obeid have been targeted due to their association with Dr. Mudawi.
We understand that, since Dr. Mudawi’s arrest, his family has experienced harassment and intimidation, including a strong security presence around their home. Dr. Mudawi was held incommunicado in prison for over a month before his family was finally permitted to have brief visits with him under the supervision of the NISS. We further understand that Dr. Mudawi was only permitted to meet with his lawyer on February 22, 2017, after nearly three months in prison. Dr. Mudawi has reportedly undertaken two hunger strikes to protest his arbitrary detention.
According to his family, Dr. Mudawi suffers from chronic respiratory and heart problems that have been exacerbated by poor conditions of confinement and by the refusal of authorities to provide him with essential medication. We are also greatly concerned to learn of allegations that Dr. Mudawi has suffered ill-treatment at the hands of prison authorities. Released detainees have reported that they witnessed Dr. Mudawi being beaten by NISS officers over the course of several days and that he was shackled hand and foot in an attempt to force him to end his hunger strike. It is our understanding that Dr. Mudawi has also been placed in a “punishment cell” with poor ventilation and very hot temperatures.
We understand that Dr. Mudawi has previously been jailed on several occasions in connection with his peaceful humanitarian and human rights work and fear that his current detention, and that of his colleagues, is also due to this work, which involves his exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. These rights are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Sudan is a party.
We therefore respectfully urge you to use your good offices to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Mudawi and his colleagues from prison in the absence of valid legal charges consistent with international standards. In the interim, we ask that you guarantee their safety while in state custody and ensure that their treatment is in accordance with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), including that they be allowed regular access to their legal counsel, family, and necessary medical care.
We thank you for your attention, Your Excellency, to this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Chalfie, Ph.D.
(2008 Nobel Laureate, Chemistry)
This letter will be sent to the following individuals:
His Excellency Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan
His Excellency Awad Al Hassan Alnour, Minister of Justice
Copies to:
His Excellency Ismat Abdul-Rahman Zain Al-Abdin, Minister of the Interior
His Excellency Maowia Osman Khalid, Ambassador of Sudan to the United States of America
The Honorable Steven Koutsis, Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of the United States of America in the Republic of Sudan