Darfur Koran teacher released in Khartoum without trial

This week, the security authorities released a basic school teacher of Mukjar in Central Darfur, after he spent six months in detention without being tried.

A son of sheikh Suleiman Ibrahim Hussein, an Islamic Studies teacher at Mukjar Basic School and former head of the Mukjar Displaced Council, told Dabanga that his father was released last week. “We, and all the people of Mukjar town, are relieved that he returned to us in reasonably good health.”  

The Koran teacher was held by security officers in his hometown on 15 July last year. He was transferred to a detention centre in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur, and then to Kober prison in Khartoum North.

In August, the Darfur Bar Association reported that he was charged with “contacting foreign press agents”. One of Hussein’s sons stressed to Dabanga at the time that his father “was never involved in political activities”.