All Sennar price hike protesters but one released

On Wednesday evening the security service in Sennar state released eight of the people who were detained during a demonstration in Singa on January 31, except for a student. The court hearing had started this week.

The head of the defence, lawyer Mohamed Adam, told Radio Dabanga that the security apparatus released eight of the defendants on Wednesday evening, including Yousif El Naeem, Sennar state Umma Party spokesman, and Abdallah Adam, Sennar’s Umma Party deputy head.

The student who remains in detention studies at the Faculty of Education of Sennar University. The trial session has been postponed until next week.

“The authorities obliged the accused to report to the premises of the security apparatus on Saturday,” Adam said. “El Naeem and Adam have to report to the security service on Thursday morning.”

On Wednesday January 31, thirteen people were arrested in Singa, including leading members of the Umma Party, the Communist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. Charges were filed against them on the counts of rioting and causing public nuisance. A number of them were released after they spent a night in jail pending the trial that started last Wednesday, in the town’s courtroom.

The courthouse was overcrowded that day: there were tight security and police measures, and vehicles lined up in the courtyard.

Price hikes

The demonstration in Singa was aimed against the sharp price increases in Sudan, which are the result of the higher taxes on consumer goods, including flour and fuel, for this year. The government’s increase of the US Dollar customs rate from SDG 6.7 to SDG 18 caused a rise in the Dollar exchange rate in the parallel market.

In various Sudanese towns, people took to the streets in spontaneous or organised protests against the soaring prices. Opposition members and journalists present at these demonstrations were detained.

During demonstrations organised by political parties and the allied opposition in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North, security troops and riot police detained numerous opposition leaders. Including Omar El Digeir, President of the Sudanese Congress Party, Mohamed Mukhtar El Khateeb, Communist Party Secretary-General, Mohamed Abdallah El Doma, Umma Party Co-Vice President and chairman of the Darfur Bar Association, Maj. Gen. Fadlallah Burma Nasir, Umma Party Co-Vice-President, and Sara Nugdallah, Umma Party Secretary-General.