The Sudanese authorities must end measures taken under the state of emergency to violently crush dissent amid ongoing nationwide protests in the country, Amnesty International said.
Following the declaration of a state of emergency on Friday, the government has deployed large numbers of security forces – including the army – to target protesters.
Thousands of Sudanese people are again protesting today in various parts of the country. Security officers today invaded the Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman dispersing students with teargas and beatings.
“The state of emergency is being used by the Sudanese authorities as a justification to flagrantly increase the use of live ammunition and tear gas against protesters, and to torture detainees without any restraint,” said Joan Nyanyuki Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“The Government of Sudan must immediately stop using these extreme measures under the state of emergency to intimidate the Sudanese people and prevent them from exercising their freedom of expression. The people have a right to peacefully protest the social, political and economic conditions in the country.”
On Sunday, security forces fired live ammunition and teargas at protesters in Khartoum state, injuring at least three people. Another group of officers forced their way into the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) campus in Khartoum where students were peacefully protesting. They fired tear gas into classrooms, beat up students and arrested dozens of them.
In Khartoum’s Burri and Omdurman’s Alabasyia districts, large numbers of security officers drawn from the Sudan Armed Forces, the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and the police force were deployed. These officers forced their way into people’s homes in Burri on Sunday, firing tear gas, beating up people and confiscating mobile phones.
On Saturday, the security forces broke into a medical doctors’ residence near the Khartoum Teaching Hospital, beat up doctors and arrested more than 40 of them on accusations that they were organizing the protests.
“This brutal crackdown on the Sudanese people immediately following the announcement of the state of emergency is disturbing,” warned Joan Nyanyuki.
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Elizabeth Berton-Hunter, Media Relations 416-363-9933 ext 332 bbertonhunter@amnestey.ca
