The United States of America said late Wednesday that it barred entry to a former director general of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) over his involvement in human rights violations.
Salah Ghosh headed Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) until he resigned in April this year, two days after the army ousted the country's leader Omar al-Bashir after months-long protests.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the State Department said Salah Abdalla Mohamed Mohamed Salih, known as Salah Gosh, was involved in torture during his tenure as head of NISS.
“The designation of Salah Gosh and his family underscores our support for accountability for those involved in gross violations of human rights,” the State Department said.
“We make this announcement today (Wednesday) in support of an effort by the Sudanese people to place the Bashir regime, with its long record of human rights violations and abuses by Gosh and other officials, in the past for good,” the statement added.
The United States said it seeks a civilian-led government in Sudan that protects human rights and differs fundamentally from the Bashir regime.
The US non-profit group Sentry welcomed the action and urged the Trump administration to add asset freeze to visa ban.
John Prendergast, co-founder of the Sentry, said: "Finally, after years of sowing terror and chaos in war-torn parts of Sudan, Salah Gosh has finally experienced the first of what hopefully will be many consequences for his misdeeds”.
Prendergast further said the US government should build on this action and impose an asset freeze on Gosh and any of his commercial collaborators found to be complicit in his human rights and financial crimes.
Ghosh had worked on and off for NISS since the 1989 coup that brought Bashir to power. He was later arrested on accusations that he had planned a coup to overthrow Bashir, but no evidence was found against him and the government pardoned him.
Bashir reappointed Ghosh to head the national security service again in February 2018. During the rule of Omar al-Bashir, NISS oversaw crackdowns on government opponents and journalists.