20100719
africanews

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's security forces systematically torture detainees and enjoy immunity from prosecution, Amnesty International said on Monday, urging Khartoum to reform a law which grants security agents wide powers.

A 66-page report by the rights group included accounts from survivors of torture and testimony from human rights defenders. It said rights abuses had increased since elections in April and were worrying ahead of a January 2011 southern referendum on secession.

A source within Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) told Reuters they were aware of the report but could not immediately comment. NISS mostly deny torture allegations.

Amnesty, which has been denied visas to visit Sudan since 2006, said arrests, torture and intimidation increased during times of high political tension, such as after a Darfur rebel attack on the capital and after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"The NISS rules Sudan by fear. The extensive, multi-pronged assault on the Sudanese people by the security services has left the critics of the government in constant fear of arrest, harassment or worse," said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty's Africa programme director.

"The Sudanese authorities are brutally silencing political opposition and human rights defenders in Sudan through violence and intimidation. NISS agents benefit from total impunity for the human rights violations they continue to commit."

The report urged Sudan to reform a 2010 National Security Law which was forced through the parliament using the ruling party's mechanical majority and gives NISS wide powers of arrest and detention, as well as seizing of assets to the forces while offering agents immunity from prosecution.

"NISS agents have systematically used intimidation and various forms of ill-treatment, including torture, against supporters of the political opposition ... and anyone seen as posing a threat to the government," the report said.