Rhino: Agencies – Legal expert Moiz Hazra said on Monday that the current amendments granted the General Intelligence Service (GIS) more powers than it had under al-Bashir.
Hadra told Al-Hurra website that the most prominent amendments were to grant the security apparatus powers of arrest, search and detention, and also authorized the renewal of detainees’ detention for multiple periods.
The legal expert noted that the amendments gave those charged with carrying out these powers and tasks full immunity, making it impossible to prosecute them, either civilly or criminally, without the approval of the director of the intelligence service.
He added: ‘Even if a member of the intelligence service is sentenced to death, the sentence will only be carried out with the approval of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Al-Burhan and his support group aim to perpetuate the power of repression and confiscation of freedoms so that they can continue to rule Sudan, Hadra said.
He added that the current repression, arrests and torture are worse than what happened under al-Bashir, and the most dangerous thing about them is that they threaten societal cohesion.
He pointed out that the amendments introduced the term collaborators, a term that did not exist in the previous intelligence agency law, noting that a collaborator is a person who is not officially affiliated with the agency, but rather an ordinary citizen who provides information to the agency in exchange for money.
‘These amendments make everyone suspicious of everyone, and everyone spies on everyone, and this would threaten societal cohesion, especially since some collaborators could provide information against others out of personal disagreement,’ he said.
Sudanese and international human rights organizations accuse al-Bashir’s security apparatus of involvement in violations against activists, including detention, enforced disappearances, torture and killings.
