Urgent call to investigate the injuring of 17 peaceful demonstrators in Khartoum

( 24 October 2021) The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) calls on Sudanese authorities  to urgently investigate the injuring of 17 peaceful demonstrartors that occurred on 21 October 2021 in Khartoum. The transitional government should urgently set up an independent and impartial commission to ensure an immediate and effective investigation into the full scale of injuring, identify those responsible, and recommend ways to hold them accountable.

On 21 October 2021, peaceful demonstrations broke out in different cities in Sudan including Khartoum demanding and supporting civilian rule in Sudan. In Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, security forces stationed at the Armed Forces Bridge confronted peaceful demonstrators coming from different neighborhoods in front of the parliament building. They threw tear gas and opened live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators causing injuries to at least 17 peaceful demonstrators.

The violent response from the security forces towards the peaceful demonstrators raises concerns about the continued reliance on repressive tactics to disrupt peaceful assembly. ACJPS calls on the Government of Sudan to respect the peoples’ rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression as guaranteed in international standards and UN treaties ratified by Sudan and refrain from using excessive force to disperse protests.

The policing of assemblies must respect the exercise of the right to peacefully assemble and restrict the use of force to extremely necessary circumstances, in line with international standards. Sudanese authorities should ensure law enforcement agencies comply with international standards on the use of force. It should be made clear that arbitrary or abusive use of force by security forces will be punished.

ACJPS has received details of people injured as follows:

1. Abu talib Faisal (male), 20-years-old ( Right hand injury)
2. Abubaker Mirghani Ismaeel (male), 20-years-old (Leg injury)
3. Ahmed Hamdan Ahmed (male), 35-years-old (Head injury)
4. Ahmedc Hamid Saeed (male), 31-years-old ( Right Hand injury)
5. Aljaili Ibrahim Altayib(male), 30-years-old (A gunshot wound on the left leg)
6. Alzain Abdelhadi (male), 70-years-old (Tear gas suffocation)
7. Ibrahim Abdalla (male), 23-years-old (Head injury)
8. Mahir Osman (male), 35-years-old (Injury on both hands)
9. Mazin Ayman (male), 22-years-old (A gushot wound on the abdomen)
10. Mohamed Abdelgadir (male), 21-years-old (A gunshot wound on the right foot)
11. Mohamed Alhaj Mohamed (male), 27-years-old (Tear gas suffocation)
12. Mohamed Alzain (male), 18-years-old (Head injury)
13. Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim (male), 23-years-old (A gunshot wound on the right arm)
14. Shol Deing (male), 25-years-old ( Right Hand injury)
15. Wisam Mahdi (male), 20-years-old (Tear gas suffocation)
16. Yasir Alkamil Saeed (male), 23-years-old ( Left hand injury)
17. Zohal Abdelrahman (female), 23-years-old ( sustained wounds in different parts of her body)

ACJPS reiterates its calls to the Transitional Government to:

• Respect and ensure the right to peacefully assemble,
• Investigate the abusive use of force including the killings and injuring of protesters with an aim to identify and hold perpetrators accountable,
• Ensure access to free treatment and rehabilitation to individuals injured through the violent dispersal by the authorities,
• Refrain from deploying armed forces and government-sponsored militias including Rapid Support Forces to disperse peaceful gatherings,
• Ensure police and other security services policing demonstrations or performing other law enforcement duties receive adequate training and caution on the use of force in line with UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

Background

 Although Articles 56 and 57 of the Constitutional Charter guarantees the freedom of expression and assembly respectively, Sudanese authorities have progressively and deliberately continued violating these rights using force including firing of live ammunition to disperse peaceful protests.  On 11 May 2021, ACJPS documented the killing of two peaceful protesters and injury of 37 others in Khartoum. In July 2020, ACJPS documented the killing of 12 peaceful protesters and injury of 14 others in Fata Borno, North Darfur state whilst in El-obeid, three peaceful protesters were killed  in August 2019.

A lack of accountability for these crimes has fostered a climate of impunity in Sudan .To date, several perpetrators of human rights violations have not been held accountable mainly due to the immunity laws that protect perpetrators and a lack of political will. The National Security Act was amended in July 2020 to remove immunity granted to members of National Intelligence Security Services, now rebranded as the General Intelligence Services. However, there is still need to amend laws that protect the police, army and other security agencies from prosecution of human rights abuses.

For further information, contact Mossaad Mohamed Ali at: mossaad.ali@acjps.org