CAT/C/32/D/148/1999
Page 5
2.8 The complainant outlines the recent political history of Sudan and claims
that there is a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant and mass violations of
human rights. He refers, inter alia, to the adoption of a country resolution in
April 1997 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, according to which
human rights violations in Sudan included “extrajudicial killings, arbitrary
arrests,
detentions
without
due
process,
enforced
or
involuntary
disappearances, violations of the rights of women and children, slavery and
slavery- like practices, forced displacement of persons and systematic torture,
and denial of the freedoms of religion, expression, association and peaceful
assembly”.
2.9 In January 1998, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan reported that the
authorities, security forces and militia were responsible for a broad range of
human rights violations. In April 1998, the UN Commission on Human Rights
again expressed deep concern over continued serious human rights violations.
For the fourth year running, the Commission recommended deploying human
rights field officers to monitor human rights.
2.10 The complainant alleges that although much of the religious persecution
has been directed against non-Muslims, the fundamentalist nature of the
current regime is such that many Muslims, including the Sufis, are not free to
practice their own brand of Islam under the NIF regime. The Ansar
(consisting largely of Sufis) have been subjected to government control with
the confiscation of their mosques. In addition, Muslim groups critical of the
government continue to suffer harassment 2 . On the political level, the
complainant submits that contrary Islamist political opinions, including
centrist Islamic parties such as the Umma are not tolerated.
2.11 According to the complainant, there is evidence that military deserters
will face torture and death. Amnesty International reported in April 1998 that:
2
The complainant refers to Amnesty’s Annual Report of 1999 in which it reported that those
detained in 1997 included five Imams who were reported to have case doubt on the religious
credentials of Hassan al-Turabi, Secretary General of the National Congress and ideological
mentor of the Government.