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Sudan

Children detained, tortured, after protest

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Three children and three adults have been detained incommunicado in a prison in Sudan's North Darfur state since a peaceful demonstration on 28 April. They have reportedly been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

The six were arrested by police and the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), shortly after peaceful demonstrations in Al Salaam and Abu Shouk camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur. They were demonstrating against proposed new modalities of food distribution in IDP camps. They were taken to the NISS offices in North Darfur's state capital, El Fasher.

Three others who had been arrested with them were released after interrogation by the NISS. The six were later transferred to Shalla prison, in El Fasher, where they were charged under the 1991 Sudanese Criminal Code with offences including "rioting" and "disturbance of public order."

The three children are secondary-school students Osman Adam Yagoub, aged 17 and Abdul Razig Issa Adam Idriss, aged 14; and 16-year-old Izz Eldin Mohamed Bokra. The adults are Farah Eldin Adam Ishag, aged 24, and Abeid Tibin Diya Elnour, aged 35. Ilhamm Yousuf Mohamed Abdul Majid, aged 18, was transferred to Shalla Women's Prison in El Fasher.

At least four individuals, including the three children, were reportedly tortured or otherwise ill-treated by the NISS. They are at risk of further torture or other ill-treatment. The authorities have refused contact with their families or lawyers.