HUDO Centre Date: 28th December 2020 No. H.K/UA/15/020 URGENT APPEAL ARREST OF CIVILIANS BY MI IN TALODI, SUDAN On 18th December 2020, SAF/MI in Talodi arrested Mr. Taj-Elsir Abdalla Mesaibeil and Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Abu-Jarra. The reason for their arrest was not given/ unknown. They have been kept incommunicado and detained in poor conditions since then, this raised fear that they could be under torture. On 17th December 2020, Mr. Taj-Elsir Abdalla Mesaibeil and Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Abu-Jarra arrived in Talodi town from Mandi village accompanying their blind and sick uncle Mr. Elbasheir Meseibeil Adam. They came to Talodi town in order to send their sick Uncle to Khartoum for treatment. They were hosted at the house of Mr. Eltayeb Musa Eltayeb in Talodi. On 18th December 2020, four (4) armed Sudan Armed Force (SAF) soldiers arrested both Taj-Elsir and Hussein from Mr. Eltayeb’s house and took them to SAF’s military base and detained them under poor conditions. They are only served one meal per day and are not allowed to access their lawyers or relatives to visit them. This raised the fear that they could be undergoing torture. It’s presumed that the reason for their arrest is because they were coming from the area controlled by Sudan People Liberation Army – North (SPLA-N) to the governmental territory. HUDO is very concerned about the situation of civilians in conflict areas. HUDO calls upon:  The military authority in Talodi to immediately release or to transfer them to the courts of law if there is a case against them.  Sudan government to hold to account SAF commandant in Talodi for this arrest.  Sudan government to end the state of emergency in conflict areas which enables MI to arrest civilians at will.  Sudan government to respect the constitutional rights of citizens  Sudan government to respect its international obligations.