JURIST - Paper Chase: Sudanese civilians detained for talking to foreigners

Darfuri civilians are regularly being imprisoned or harassed by Sudanese authorities for talking to foreigners about the Darfur conflict, according to a Tuesday statement from Amnesty International. According to Amnesty:

Scores of people have been arrested since the end of June 2004 in various parts of Darfur for talking to foreign government leaders, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, members of the African Union (AU) Ceasefire Commission and independent journalists or for speaking out on the crisis in Darfur.

Read the full press release. Security officials have said that people were being questioned after meeting with foreigners and that some had been detained, but said that any questioning and detentions were a matter of security, not a reprisal for speaking to foreigners. Read the full story from Reuters.