A Sudanese human rights worker who says he was beaten and tortured during prolonged detention for allegedly helping the International Criminal Court (ICC) is calling for international investigations of crimes committed against civilians in the Nuba Mountains.
In an interview on Radio Tamazuj, Al Fadil Saeed Al Sanhouri, Director of the Nuba Mountains Observatory for Human Rights, explained that he was arrested last year by the Security and Intelligence Service for allegedly reporting human rights issues in Darfur to the ICC.
He denied this saying, “We don’t report on Darfur because we are an observatory working on the Nuba Mountains.”
Al Sanhouri said the observatory’s office was stormed by the authorities, forcing all staffs to work outside its base in Khartoum. “The raid occurred after we had collaborated with international organizations to release about 63 women from Nuba Mountains who were in detention during that time.”
He accused the Khartoum government of constantly violating the international humanitarian law since fighting erupted in South Kordofan in June 2011. The rights activist pointed out that they report regularly on arrests of unarmed civilians who are being accused spying for the SPLA-North in the state, continuous aerial bombardment of hospitals, schools and water sources.
Al Sanhouri stressed that such atrocities should be investigated by the United Nations Security Council and other rights groups so that they are referred to the ICC in the Hague.
El Sanhouri says that he was detained and tortured for more than 8 months along with other members of the observatory before being released in late August 2014. He was accused of collaborating with the ICC to investigate crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.
“The security agents have different ways of torture. We were being kept in cells and refrigerators for for some times, besides beating in the waist and hands tightening as well as kicking. So I am now suffering from kidney disease and pain in the hands,” he said.
He called on the international community and human rights defenders to investigate abuses being committed against innocent Nuba civilians, whether through arbitrary arrests or deliberate aerial bombardment of hospitals, schools and water sources and other vital facilities.