Amnesty calls for release of Sudan detainees

KHARTOUM, Aug 7 (Reuters) The London-based rights group Amnesty International has called on the Sudanese government to release seven people detained after protests in June against plans to build a dam on the River Nile in northern Sudan.

The detainees' prison conditions are poor, with swarms of rainy-season mosquitoes and flies, two have needed hospital treatment for diabetes and most have been denied visits, Amnesty said in a statement late yesterday.

''None of those in custody has been formally charged with any offence,'' it said.

A security source who asked not to be named said there were fewer than seven detainees and denied their prison conditions were uncomfortable.

Four people were killed on June 13 when police clashed with demonstrators protesting against the Kajbar Dam project.

Security officials detained a number of journalists and lawyers on their way to the region to investigate the killings, but released most of them after a week.

Some of the seven people now in detention were arrested in the capital Khartoum, others on their way to the region.

Mujaheed Abdullah, a reporter with the opposition daily al-Rai al-Shaab, was arrested in the capital Khartoum and remains in detention.

The security source said the cases would go to the judiciary once investigations were complete.

Kajbar area residents said the government had not consulted them on plans to build the dam. They feared the authorities would make them leave their villages and the dam would harm the environment.

Government officials said the people of Kajbar had overreacted and accused opposition politicians of inciting people against a project that was still under study.

REUTERS AE VC2116