On the night of March 5th, 2009, Sudanese security forces had carried out a raid on the house of internet activist and lawyer Abdel Hakim Abdel Rahman Nasr only few hours [1] after he expressed his support to the ICC Arrest Warrant for President Omar al-Bashir [2] on the online International Forum for Nubia [3] of which he was a moderator.
According to the forum administrator, security forces have learned Abdel Hakim's password [4] on March 6th, 2009 and deleted more than three hundred threads [5] posted by the activist and other forum members:
On March 6, someone used Abdulhakeem's password and deleted [300 [5]] of his posts, as well as other posts by members, which will be tallied up soon as the posts were deleted completely and not partially. We tried calling Abdulhakeem to ask him about this but his phone was switched off. We called his brother Naar Al Mahsi, who called Sudan, and informed us that Abdulhakeem has been detained since last night. This shows that the security apparatus had used Abdel Hakim's password and deleted the posts. As a precautionary measure, administrator Hassam Al Mallik suspended the publishing rights of all moderators until further notice and until the site is further safeguarded.
Abdel Hakim has been released on March 11th [6], 2009. In a post published this week on International Forum for Nubia [7], Abdel Hakim described what he went through during the kidnapping and the interrogation and how he was beaten with gun butts and truncheons. A translation of Abdel Hakim's post will be published soon on Global Voices.
Update: below is the translation of Nasr's post done by Amira Al Hussaini [8]
In this chilling post [9] [Ar], on the forum which is now open to members only, Nasr details his arrest:
I was arrested on the night of March 5 in an operation close to burglary in cities and the effect of that raid is still reverberating through our peaceful villages. Ir wasn't the first time I had been arrested, but the effect of this arrest is etched in the memories of children, and our neighbours and even children in neighbouring areas. Even adults don't feel at peace anymore.
On his treatment during his detention, Nasr writes:
I was treated in an inhumane manner since my arrest at dawn on Friday until the end of the day on Saturday and this is what I will narrate in detail as its effects are still evident on my body. I have lost my ability to hear in my right ear and my sight in my right eye has been effected. I also feel dizzy the entire time and this prevents me from doing my work. The way I was treated changed after that, and the head of the security unit apologised to me more than once and his treatment changed until I was released. However, I am a human being at the end of the day, and I still suffer from the way I was arrested and my family has lost its security. My brother's children suffer from nightmares and the doors to our house are locked during the day and night and my family is suffering because of that. I also personally lost my hearing ability and this prevents me from communicating with my brother Muzamil, who has lost his hearing years ago.
Nasr then details how he was woken up from his sleep by one of 11 men who raided his home:
I had thought that my elder brother had come into the livingroom (where he was sleeping) to take some of his things, but was surprised by a voice waking me up. I moved my blanket away from me and saw lights beaming on my face. One of them asked me for my name and continued: “Get up with us without making noise. Deal with us properly so that we treat you properly. I felt hands on my back and the mouths of two rifles pushing my sides. I was asked to move. When I asked them for their identities, one of them asked me to remain silent and they asked me to leave the house by climbing over the fence. I refused that and insisted on leaving through the gate, so theur agreed. I asked them to inform my family, and they said they will do so. However, as soon as we got to the car which was waiting outside, they sped off without telling my family.
The men then took him through a few villages, changed cars and stopped to pray. Nasr recalls:
We arrived at the village of West Samt, where they stopped for prayers. I was then able to identify their features. After prayers, the torture started. It was as though they were ordered to torture me during their Sujiud (prostration [10]).