President Mary McAleese has joined calls for the release of a Sudanese human rights activist who was arrested in Khartoum prior to his departure for an awards ceremony in Dublin yesterday.
Mudawi Ibrahim Adam was arrested last Sunday and charged with "espionage", an offence that carries the death penalty, having taken camera footage of street scenes in the Sudanese capital which he had planned to broadcast at the Dublin event.
Mrs McAleese presented the inaugural Front Line Award for human rights defenders to Dr Mudawi's wife and daughter in the absence of the activist, who was involved in brokering peace deals and providing emergency assistance in war-torn Darfur.
The President said Dr Mudawi had paid "an extraordinarily high price for his human rights and humanitarian work - harassment, imprisonment, false allegations, solitary confinement and now imprisonment yet again".
She added: "May Dr Mudawi, his wife and daughter, live to see in Sudan the peaceful, egalitarian, inclusive and democratic society their hearts long for."
Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan, who recently visited Government-sponsored aid programmes in Darfur, said: "We will be using all and every lever we have available to us to make sure Dr Mudawi's rights are vindicated.
"It is time that the Khartoum government woke up to the fact that if they are going to make the journey to a successful peace process they cannot abandon respect for human rights."
Mr Lenihan added he was increasingly of the view that "we need to link much more strongly" the giving of aid to developing countries and their respect for human rights and the rule of law.
In a message sent from his prison cell, Dr Mudawi said he appreciated the support of Front Line, the Irish-based advocacy group set up in 2001 with the financial backing of businessman Denis O'Brien.
"I also want to thank the Irish Government for their efforts and ask them to continue," Dr Mudawi said.
His wife told the gathering of ambassadors, politicians and other dignitaries at City Hall in Dublin that her husband was "proud" to be getting the award.
Mr Lenihan joined other speakers in praising the work of Front Line. However, he said he stood over his controversial remarks about non-governmental organisations, some of which he criticised for spending "enormous amounts of money on advocacy as opposed to sending money to the Third World".
He said: "I think advocacy is one part of the equation but we shouldn't become so overcome by the idea of advocacy that it becomes the majority activity."
