Sudan: Human rights defender Abubakr Mansour Abdela sentenced to 20 years in prison
Front Line Defenders expresses its deep concern over the sentence of human rights defender Abubakar Mansour Abdela and calls for his immediate release.
On 30 April 2025, the General Court of Singa issued a sentence of twenty years in prison and a fine of ten million Sudanese pounds against human rights defender and lawyer Abubakr Mansour Abdela. The trial ignored evidence proving the innocence of the human rights defender and instead convicted him for allegedly collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Front Line Defenders believes that Abubakr Mansour Abdela is being targeted with arbitrary detention to prevent him from doing his human rights work and to punish him for his critical stance against the extremist Islamic Movements and his opposition to the war.
Abubakr Mansour Abdela is a Sudanese lawyer and human rights defender who provides legal assistance and support to his community. After the eruption of the Sudanese civil war in April 2023, he stayed in his home town Singa and provided humanitarian support by distributing free medicine from his brother’s pharmaceutical company. Throughout his career, Abubakr Mansour Abdela has been resisting the extremist Islamic Movement, the regime that was overthrown in 2019 by the former alliance of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF.
The sentence issued by the General Court of Singa is based on charges related to alleged collaboration with the RSF. As the evidence and testimonies presented at trial strongly suggest the innocence of Abubakr Mansour Abdela, the ruling highlights the bias within the judiciary system and the violation of the principles of a fair trial as stipulated by Sudanese law. According to the his lawyer, arresting and imprisoning the human rights defenders is a punishment for his human rights work, opposing to the war, and resisting the Islamic Movement.
On 24 November 2024, the SAF recaptured Singa from the RSF and searched Abubakr Mansour Abdela’s house on the same day. On the following day, the human rights defender was arrested, blindfolded, and whipped in front of his family. Initially, he was detained in the SAF garrison in Singa. After 10 days, he was transferred to a cell at the Sultanate Medical College in Sennar, where he was held and interrogated until his trial on 30 April 2025.
Since the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war in 2023, human rights lawyers have been severely targeted by both warring parties, the RSF and the SAF, leading to numerous cases of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, and killings. This worrying pattern is exemplified by the recent killings of Darfur Bar Association members Mohammed Ahmed Kudia, Khamis Arabab, Tareg Hassan Yagoub Elmalik, and El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun, as well as the imprisonment and possible death sentence of lawyer and human rights defender Montaser Abdullah.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention of Abubakr Mansour Abdela and the systematic imprisonment and killings of human rights lawyers. The organisation believes that the human rights defender has been targeted with punitive measures solely due to his legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders demands that the sentence and charges against Abubakr Mansour Abdela are withdrawn, and that he is released immediately.
