Sudan - interview

Activist claims he was tortured over ICC links

Article published on the 2008-12-19 Latest update 2008-12-19 15:49 TU

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir shakes hands with United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur in July.
(Photo : Reuters)

A Sudanese human rights activist says he was thrown into prison and tortured for working with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its case against incumbent President Omar al-Bashir and other government officials. Osman Humaide says he was grilled about his involvement with the ICC.

Humaide, who works at the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights, was arrested in November along with two colleagues over contact with representatives from the ICC.

Before being released without charge, he says that he was tortured and forced to watch while one of his colleagues received the same treatment in front of him.

"Most of the interrogation and questioning is about the ICC and my link with the ICC ... my involvement with the ICC comes from my interest in human rights," Osman Humaide says.

In July this year the ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, alleged that al-Bashir was responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur.

"I believe it is the right instrument to provide justice ... working to provide justice for the people who have been victims of serious crime, heinous crime, ike war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide," he told RFI on a visit to Paris.

The Sudanese government has refused to acknowledge the authority of the ICC, but Humaide says that the ICC's charges have made a difference.

"Now I think they change their attitude and they declare a ceasefire, and I think this has only happened because al-Bashir has been indicted," he says.

In October, the ICC requested more information from the prosecutor to support the charges.