Lawyers in Sudan open torture case against ex-spy chief

KHARTOUM, Sudan

A group of lawyers in Sudan opened a case Monday against the country’s former intelligence chief and other former regime officials over the alleged torture of a Sudanese citizen.

Wail Ali Saeed, secretary general of the Sudanese Lawyers Democratic Front, told Anadolu Agency they opened a case against ex-intelligence chief Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, commonly known as Salah Gosh, former presidential adviser Nafia Ali Nafia and former security official Gen. Abdul Hafiz Bashir.

He said the case was opened on behalf of Altybe Nour Aldaim, who claimed he had been subjected to torture by the three officials.

"We as a group of 25 lawyers opened a legal case for our client Altybe Nour Aldaim against former spy chief Salah Gosh, Nafia Ali Nafia and Abdul Hafiz Bashir," he said.

"That would be under many articles, including Articles 21 and 24 of the criminal code, Article 143 on the use of violence in power and Article 144 on the use of terrorism. So our case number is 12988, and we have a lot of evidence that proves the torture," he stressed.

Sudan’s parliament voted to extend a nationwide state of emergency by another three months, the head of the country’s Sovereign Council said late Thursday.

The extension was effective as of Friday, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman said in a statement.

In February, then-President Omar al-Bashir announced a countrywide state of emergency for a one-year period, but parliament approved a period of six months.

In July, the Transitional Military Council (TMC) approved another three-month state of emergency.

Sudan has been rocked by popular protests since last December, with demonstrators decrying Bashir’s failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes.

A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of some three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Sudan is being ruled under a power-sharing deal between the TMC and the opposition Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition.

Bashir was removed from power by the military in April after months of protests against his 30-year rule.