Relatives of detained students and activists in Khartoum have accused the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of subjecting the detainees to torture. They called for the UN human rights official Mashood Baderin to visit the NISS detention centre in Khartoum North.

Student activists Mohamed Salah Abdel Rahman and Tajelsir Jaafar Tajelsir were detained on 12 May during demonstrations at the University of Khartoum. Their relatives were recently permitted to visit them for the first time after 32 days of detention.

During a press conference on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Sudanese Communist Party in Khartoum, the mothers of Mohamed Salah and Tajelsir Jaafar said that their sons were tortured while in security detention. They hold the NISS responsible for the physical and psychological health of their children.

Sabah Osman, the mother of Tajelsir Jaafar, a student at the University of Khartoum, told Radio Dabanga after the press conference that when she was finally allowed to visit her son in the NISS detention centre, she saw traces of lashes on his back. “His face and hands were swollen, and he could not stand for a long time.”

The security forces had refused her first three requests for a visit. She was allowed to see her son for 20 minutes only. “The guards did not allow us to talk about his health, about the university, or whatever, except about the family.”

The mother of Mohamed Salah, Zainab Badreldin, said at the press conference that her son was also tortured by security forces inside the detention camp in Khartoum North. “I noticed traces of beating on his face. He could not see with his right eye. It was clear too that he had been hit hard on his head. I also saw bandages at his feet.”

The families of the detainees requested Mashood Baderin, the UN Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, who arrived in Khartoum on Sunday for a ten-day stay, to visit the NISS detention centre located near the Shendi bus station in Khartoum North.

Photo: Zainab Badreldin (left) and Sabah Osman speaking in Khartoum on Tuesday

Reporting by Radio Dabanga