GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights investigator called on Sudan on Friday to either release or put on trial 11 pro-democracy activists and journalists being held incommunicado since their arrest more than six weeks ago.
Human rights activists in Sudan face an increasingly difficult situation in the run-up to January's referendum on independence for the oil-producing south, said Mohamed Chande Othman, U.N. independent expert on human rights in the Sudan.
"I am concerned that the arrests and detentions of these 11 persons may be linked to their legitimate activities in defence of human rights," Othman said in a statement.
Sudan shut down the Khartoum office of Radio Dabanga, whose reports on Darfur have angered it, and arrested staff from the radio station and the Human Rights and Advocacy Network for Democracy (HAND) that shares its offices during raids carried out between Oct 30 and November 3.
"The government has not specified the charges brought against them, provided them with access to legal counsel, nor brought them before a judge to review the lawfulness of their detentions," Othman said.
State media have quoted Sudan's security service as accusing the radio staff of working for rebels in the western region of Darfur and for the International Criminal Court, which is seeking the arrest of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and genocide. A spokesman for the radio has rejected the accusations.
Radio Dabanga, registered in the Netherlands, is one of the few media outlets still reporting on the Darfur conflict.
Initially 14 people were confirmed as arrested, but three were later released, leaving 11 in custody, including at least two women, according to U.N. sources in Geneva.
Abdel Rahman Al-Gasim, a lawyer from South Darfur who met Othman during an activists' meeting held on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council in the Swiss city last September, is among them, they said.
Despite objections by Sudan, the 47-member forum extended Othman's mandate for one year at that session.
Critics say Sudan is using the referendum as cover to end dissent in Darfur. Peace talks have made little progress, stifled by rebel divisions and ongoing military operations.
Othman said he remained concerned about "the increasingly difficult situation for human rights defenders across the country, particularly at this crucial moment as the Sudan prepares for its historic referendum."
A justice on Tanzania's court of appeals, he serves in his independent capacity in the post reporting to the Council.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jonathan Lynn)
