Khartoum — Security authorities in the capital Khartoum have arrested Kamil Idris, the former presidential candidate and deputy chairman of the Sudanese Committee to Defend Rights and Freedom (SCDRF), according to one of his associates.

SCDRF's leading member, Farouq Ahmad Adam, told the daily newspaper Al-Sahafah on Friday that they had received information indicating that Kamil Idris was taken into custody by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) at around 6:30 local time on Thursday.

Adam added that their organization calls on the NISS to release Idris.

Idris was the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from 1997 to 2008 when he stepped down amidst "allegations of misconduct."

He later ran as an independent candidate in Sudan's presidential elections of April 2010, which saw the incumbent president Omer Al-Bashir being re-elected.