Rhino: Agencies – Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan issued a constitutional decree on Wednesday evening, through which he authorized amendments to the General Intelligence Service (GIS) law.
The law grants members of the agency immunity so that no civil or criminal proceedings may be taken against them or their collaborators, except with the approval of the director of the intelligence agency.
The decree raised concerns that it could be a prelude to legalizing the targeting of activists and politicians, as the immunity granted to members of the agency, or their collaborators guarantees impunity.
The head of the Sudanese Congress Party’s branch in Rural Manaqil, ‘Salah al-Tayeb Musa’, was killed under torture in the military intelligence detention camps of the army, which has been working with the General Intelligence Service since the coup of 25 October 2021.
The party said in a statement on Thursday that a force belonging to the military intelligence arrested Salah al-Tayeb along with others from al-Azazi School in Rural Manaqil in Gezira State on the 17th of last April, then later denied his presence in their custody, before it was confirmed that he was assassinated under torture in detention.
A number of detainees who were accompanied by Salah al-Tayeb, members of the resistance committees, emerged with their fingernails pulled out, electric burns and testicular injuries, indicating that they had been subjected to severe torture.
The recent increase in violations brought to mind the infamous ghost houses of the Bashir era, where opponents were detained in secret houses where some of them were killed under torture, the most famous of which was opposition trade unionist Dr Ali Fadl, who died of his wounds as a result of a nail driven into his head.