African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(23 May 2017) Demonstrations led by students on university campuses continue to be dispersed violently by Sudanese authorities. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) remains extremely concerned about the excessive use of force by security forces to disperse student gatherings within the month of May. ACJPS has documented three separate incidents, two of which occurred within a space of four days from 15 – 18 May 2017, at Al Azahri University in Khartoum and on 9 May 2017 at Bakht Al Rida University in White Nile state.
In the most recent incident on 18 May 2017, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and a pro-government student militia used tear gas and batons to raid a public forum held at a hostel affiliated with Al Azahri University, injuring ten students. Seven students were arrested and are currently detained incommunicado in an unknown location. The student forum was organised to address the expulsion of seven Darfuri students by the University after they participated in demonstrations calling for the administration to adhere to the fee exemption provided for under the 2006 Doha Peace Agreement
ACJPS notes that such attacks are extremely disruptive and raise serious concerns regarding students’ safe access to higher education.
Al Azahri University, Khartoum
On 18 May 2017, the NISS and a pro-government student militia raided a public forum at Wad Nobawe hostel which was organised to discuss the expulsion of seven Darfuri students from Al Azahri University after they participated in demonstrations on 15 May 2017 calling for the administration to adhere to the fee exemption provided for under the 2006 Doha Peace Agreement. The forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd and the students were beaten with sticks. At least ten students sustained injuries and were transferred to the hospital for treatment. Seven students were arrested and are detained incommunicado in an unknown location. Their names are below.
- Mohamed Abdelhaleem Mohamed, male
- Omer Adam Ahmed, male
- Yasin Mohamed Abdelrasool, male
- Adam Ismail Ahmed, male
- Altahir Abubaker Alfadil, male
- Adam Ahmed Jibril, male
- Mohamed Abdelhaleem Mohamed, male
This incident occurred only four days after ACJPS document a similar incident in which twenty students were arrested after the NISS and pro-government student militia forcibly dispersed a public forum held on the campus on 15 May 2017.
The names of the seven expelled students are on file with ACJPS.
ACJPS and other rights organisations have frequently documented the excessive use of force against students, particularly Darfuri students, in the violent dispersal of peaceful public forums held on university campuses. In a number of well-documented instances, protests have been supressed and security forces have killed, injured, and subjected individuals to arbitrary detention and torture and ill-treatment. The most recent attacks are emblematic of the climate of violence and intimidation faced by students not affiliated to Sudan’s ruling party, and the total impunity enjoyed by Sudanese forces and pro-NCP student militias operating on university campuses throughout the country.
ACJPS condemns the excessive use of force as a means to restrict the full expression of the rights to the freedom of expression, association, and assembly, all of which are guaranteed by Sudan’s constitution and international and regional human rights commitments. We call upon the Government to respect the peaceful exercise of rights guaranteed in the Constitution and guarantee the physical and mental well-being of the seven students currently detained incommunicado, and make their whereabouts known immediately and with full access to their families and lawyers. We also call on the Government to desist from using force to quell student gatherings and to disband and disarm student militias present on university campuses across Sudan. We further urge the Government to provide redress and compensation for the injured students.
Background
Police raided a student residence at Bakht Alrida University in White Nile state on 9 May 2017, just hours after members of the student body demonstrated against a General Assembly meeting for the University’s Student Union aimed at electing a new executive committee. The demonstrations were fuelled by concerns that the elections were not free and fair, and that budgets presented were fraudulent. The Student’s Union is often perceived across Sudan as being solely affiliated with Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party.
Police armed with guns entered the residence at 2pm, after ordering the students to evacuate. During the attack, three students were injured by gunshot wounds. A police officer was also killed during the attack, reportedly when he was hit by an accidental gunshot from his own forces. His name is unknown.
Twenty students were arrested and taken to Aldewaim police station, including one of the injured individuals, who was arrested from his hospital bed and beaten. A criminal case was filed against them and the two injured students still hospitalised, including murder charges, which carry the death penalty. As of 23 May, the group remain detained and await trial at Aldewaim police station. It is not clear whether they have had access to their families and lawyers. ACJPS has serious concerns for their treatment and well-being whilst in police custody, particularly due to the nature of the case and the basis of the charges’ relationship to the death of the police officer.
ACJPS has documented several incidents of raids on student led demonstrations in the past on university campuses led by authorities.
On 22 April 2016, pro-NCP student militia armed with metal bars and pistols, fired shots in the air and violently dispersed students gathered inside the main campus of the University of Kordofan in El Obeid, North Kordofan. The students had gathered to present a list of non-NCP candidates for the Student Union elections. Around 40 students sustained injuries after being beaten with metal bars and were transferred to El Obeid Hospital. One student, Mr. Abu-Bakr Hassan Mohamed Taha, from the School of Engineering, died as a result of gunshot wounds. According to eyewitnesses, members of the police arrived on the scene but did not intervene to protect the students or conduct arrests. To date, there has been no known investigation into the violence on campus or into the killing of Mr. Hassan.
Just a few days later, on 27 April 2016, pro-NCP student militias, armed with pistols and metal bars, attacked a public forum being held by the Nuba Students’ Association on the campus of Omdurman Ahlia University in Khartoum. The students had gathered to discuss protests being held at universities in Khartoum and North Kordofan the same month. One member of the Nuba Students’ Association, Mohamed Alsadig, was shot in the chest and died on the scene from his injuries. Another student was hit over the head with a metal bar. The NISS reportedly arrived on the scene but did not intervene to protect the students, or make any arrests.
In January 2017, Amnesty International released a report documenting politically-motivated and sometimes deadly attacks on Darfuri students at universities across the country. One female student reported being subjected to a gang rape by four security officers, which was videotaped, in October 2014. Many students reported that they were targeted for demanding the full implementation of a fee-exemption policy for Darfuri students agreed to by the Sudanese government during peace talks with Darfuri armed groups in 2006 and 2011.
ACJPS: Mossaad Mohamed Ali/ Emily Cody: +256 779584542/ +256 788695068 (Kampala), or info@acjps.org.
