Amnesty International demand Sudan release detained teenagers 'tortured' with 'cigarette burns'

Amnesty International has called for the release of two arbitrarily detained teenagers in Sudan with fears they could have been tortured.

Mohammed Adam, 17, and Mohammed al-Fatih, 18, were detained by security forces in January in connection with the death of a police brigadier during an anti-coup protest in Sudan's capital Khartoum.

The ministry of interior stated on 25 January that the brigadier died after being stabbed and that the alleged perpetrators were tracked down. While the suspects were not named, it is widely believed that their statement could have referred to the teenagers, according to Amnesty.

"Adam... [and] al-Fatih have been arbitrarily detained by security authorities in Sudan for over a month... the Sudanese authorities must release them unless they are charged and remanded by an independent court," the rights-based NGO said.

Both the boys have been tortured while in detention, according to their lawyer Rana Abdulghafar Abdulraheem, who said she saw cigarette burns to al-Fatih's head, The Guardian reported.

Al-Fatih was taken away by security forces at a mosque close to the anti-coup demonstrations, while Adam was arrested while lying in a hospital bed.

He had reportedly been injured by a tear gas canister fired during protests, the lawyer said.

Sudan's military general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military coup on 25 October last year against former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's government.

Military forces have violently crushed pro-democracy protests ever since and have carried out mass arrests to counter any sign of opposition. 

At least 83 civilians have been killed and over 2,600 injured since the bloody crackdown, according to the Central Sudan Doctors Committee.

The alleged killing of the officer happened on 13 January and was the first fatality in the ranks of security forces since the coup began.