Teenagers detained and allegedly tortured in Sudan must be released, says Amnesty

Amnesty International has called for the release of two teenagers who have been detained and allegedly tortured in Sudan in connection with the killing of a police officer during pro-democracy protests in Khartoum.

Mohamed Adam, known as Tupac, 17, and Mohamed al-Fateh, 18, have been held without charge since 15 January.

Amnesty said: “There are credible concerns the youths were abducted and held without charge, in violation of their due process rights, and subjected to torture while in detention.”

It demanded the teenagers are released or charged and remanded by an independent court.

According to their lawyer, Rana Abdulghafar Abdulraheem, Tupac, who is a member of a group called Ghadiboun, which means “the angered people”, was taken from his hospital bed by police. He’d been injured by a teargas canister during protests in the capital.

Fateh was arrested in a mosque near where the demonstrations took place. It is understood he wasn’t involved in the protests.

Abdulraheem said both teenagers had been tortured. The lawyer said she had seen cigarette burns on Fateh’s head and he had not been allowed visitors. “I believe they didn’t want us to see him because he was in bad shape,” she said.

Tupac’s mother, Nidal Sulieman, said her son had problems with his blood pressure but had not been allowed to see a doctor or to take medicine since his arrest.

Requests for the pair to be examined by doctors, allowed under Sudanese law, were rejected.

More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured in protests in response to the military coup in October 2021, which followed an uneasy two years as the country sought to transition to democratic rule. Hundreds of people and political activists have been detained.

One person was reportedly killed on Monday in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, when protesters advanced towards the presidential palace of the coup leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The police did not respond to comment about the detentions.

The governing sovereign council has promised to investigate violence used against the protesters.