Sign the Petition to support Lubna al-Hussein - Sudanese police call for Yasir Arman's prosecution

Yesterday, I signed a petition to support Sudanese journalist Lubna al-Hussein.

A Reuters report at The Washington Post on Tuesday says the Sudanese government has barred Ms Hussein from travelling abroad.

Hat tip: Sarah Mac of WIP TALK 11 August 2009.

Click on label - Sudan women 'lashed for trousers' - here below for related reports and updates.
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From Sudan Radio Service, Monday 10 August 2009:
Police Call for Arman's Prosecution

(Juba) – Sudan police has opened a case against Yasir Arman, demanding that senior SPLM official should have his parliamentary immunity from prosecution revoked.

Following the trial of journalist Lubna Hussein on allegations of dressing indecently, Arman accused the public order police of blackmailing women in Khartoum.

The Sudan police have dismissed Arman's accusations, stressing that he should prove his allegations that police are blackmailing women in court.

The director of Sudan police information office, Colonel Abuobeida El-Iragi, spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Khartoum.

[Abuobeida El-Iragi]: “Following the accusation made by Yasir Arman against the public order police, that they blackmail the women, the police have opened a case in the office of the attorney general, the primary procedures have started in the investigation, and the police have demanded the revocation of Yasir Arman’s immunity, because he is a member of the national assembly. No one is above the law even if he is a member of the national assembly, this procedural immunity doesn’t prevent him from facing the legal procedure. This is a very strange behavior from a person who enjoys the membership of the national assembly and is a partner in this government, Arman is well-known for his animosity to the police. Arman has the responsibility of proving his allegations.”

Arman who is the head of the SPLM caucus in the parliament, has described the move by police as “political terrorism” by the NCP against some SPLM members.

Arman spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Khartoum on Monday.

[Yasir Arman]:”There are no accusations, the NCP are targeting some of us and they want to escape from the worthiness of the democratic transformation and implementation of the CPA by targeting some individuals and retaliating. The police should be professional and stop political retaliation. The NCP can not suppress me or stop our voices from calling for the democratic transformation and implementation of the CPA. If the NCP wants it or not, if they revoke my immunity or not, we will be demanding our rights and democratic transformation. This is just terrorizing and cheap political blackmailing, we are asking for the rights of the Sudanese people.”

Arman said that as the head of the SPLM caucus in the parliament, he has the right to criticize the failures of the country’s institutions.

[Yasir Arman: “There are lots of examples of women being blackmailed, like the case of the female journalist, or the hundred women from southern Sudan and the Nuba mountains who are being detained and blackmailed continuously in their residential areas. This is not the issue, the issue is that the NCP is dominating the civil service, the judiciary and the police, and wants to direct them in a political way for the sake of their own interest, and they don’t want to maintain its credibility. The NCP can not blackmail us, I’m the head of the SPLM caucus in the parliament, and I have the right to ask for correction in the situation of the national institutions.”

Yasir Arman was speaking to Sudan Radio Service from Khartoum.