SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: al-Tahreer – The security service bill

24/4/2021: al-Tahreer – The security service bill, by Yousif al-Sondy

Columnist Yousif al-Sondy calls for the civilian government to reject a draft security bill authorising security forces to arrest without charge for up to 72 hours, suggesting that the government confines the authorisation to arrest solely to the police and limits the authority of security forces to “the collection and analysis of information and passing it to concerned bodies.”

Al-Sondy also questions what the difference would be between Sudan’s civilian leadership -- “most of whom suffered the horrors of detention in al-Bashir’s security cells” - and the ousted regime, should the former enable the “human rights violations” they accuse the latter of.

Arguing that revolutionary Sudanese should not tolerate a security that arrests, tortures and kills, al-Sondy concludes that the bill is “wrong” and “its backers should know that it is unlawful at the age of this revolution”.