Darfuri student leader’s battered body found in Khartoum

The body of Awadallah Abakar, a leader of Darfuri university students, was found in El Yarmouk district, south of Khartoum, on Friday, two days after he disappeared.

The Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council (SLM-TC) said in a statement on Friday that Abakar was “found dead with marks of beatings and torture”.

A statement by the youth and student official of the movement, Abdelhalim Ibrahim, accused the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of involvement in Abakar’s death.

He asserted that “the assassination of Abakar confirms that the regime is continuing the systematic targeting policies against the students of Darfur, Nuba Mountains and their leaders through a master plan”.

The movement called on human rights organisations, especially the Darfur Bar Association, to do their duty and document all these crimes, including the names of those involved, to ensure that they are brought to justice.

Protests

In the first week of May, agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained 13 students of the University of El Gedaref in Sudan and violently dispersed a student protest.

At least 15 students were injured when NISS agents ‘used excessive force’ to disperse the mass demonstration organised by the students of the university in protest against the absence of security, the deteriorating conditions in the dormitories and the lack of water, electricity and hike of prices.