Mudawi Ibrahim is the director of a Sudanese aid group working in Darfur, which has been wracked by violence. Over the past decade, more than 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur in fighting between government forces and rebels.

Sudanese authorities ordered Ibrahim’s group shut in March 2009, along with a dozen foreign aid groups operating in Darfur, following an international arrest warrant against Sudan’s president on genocide charges.

Ibrahim won a court case against the embezzlement charges.

The London-based African Center for Justice and Peace Studies said in a statement Saturday that the authorities appealed and won a new verdict without a retrial.

The center said Ibrahim was whisked from the courtroom to prison on Wednesday.

“This incident is a troubling reminder of the increase in targeting of human rights defenders and activists in recent months,” the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies statement said. It said the Sudanese government should “present additional evidence of misconduct and order an appeal with all due process guarantees under international law, or release him.”