Libyan armed forces in the capital, Tripoli. |File Photo|.
Saturday 24 May 2025
Amnesty International expressed extreme concerns about the abduction of Sudanese human rights defender, Mohammed Adam, by agents of the Sudanese embassy in Tripoli, Libya, and the current lack of information about his whereabouts.
Reacting to the news of the forced disappearance of Sudanese human rights defender and asylum seeker, Mohammed Adam, commonly known as “Tupac”, the Regional Director of Amnesty International for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said Amnesty International is aware that, shortly after his disappearance, the Sudanese embassy had plans to forcibly return Mohammed Adam to Sudan imminently.
“We urge authorities of the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU) to provide information about Mohammed Adam’s whereabouts to his family and lawyers, ensure that he is released immediately and allowed access to the protection of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Libyan authorities must prevent any plans for forced return to Sudan,” Chagutah stated.
“We also call on the Sudanese authorities to halt any plans to forcibly return him to Sudan. If returned to Sudan, he would be at even greater risk of serious violations, including torture and arbitrary detention.”
Background
In line with the principle of non-refoulement, states are prohibited from transferring an individual to a place where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations, especially torture and other ill-treatment.
On 19 May 2025, shortly after Mohammed Adam entered the Sudanese embassy in Tripoli for a new passport, embassy staff pulled him away and beat him violently. He later sent messages to relatives saying that he was detained inside the embassy. They have not been able to reach him since then.
In February 2022, Amnesty International issued an urgent action demanding that the Sudanese authorities release Mohammed Adam unless he was charged with a offense recognized under international law and remanded by an independent ordinary court. Sudanese authorities had arbitrarily arrested him following his participation in an anti-military coup protest. He was held without charge and trial for one year and two months and reported being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention.
Benefiting from a wider release of prisoners in Khartoum initiated by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) after the war broke out in April 2023, he subsequently traveled to Libya and registered with the UN Refugee Agency in November 2024.
