Darfuri student suffers after beatings in detention: activist

One of the Darfuri women students, who were violently evicted by security forces from El Zahra boarding house in Khartoum on 5 October, is suffering severely from injuries sustained during her detention. “Samia Khamis Tarboush was heavily beaten during her detention,” Amal Habani, chairwoman of the No to Women Oppression Initiative (NWOI), told Radio Dabanga. “After her release, Samia was examined by doctors at El Biraha hospital on Sunday, as she complained of heavy pain in her abdomen, and persistent headaches caused by severe blows to her head,” Habani said. “She is in a very bad mental state, and can barely eat because of the pain.” Habani, a well-known journalist and activist, said that the members of the NWOI are following Tarboush’s condition closely. “We support her as much as they can, with the help of friends.” She expressed her deep concern about the 15 Darfuri women students who are still detained in the Federal Womens’ Prison in Omdurman. The Darfuri students at the University of Khartoum had been ordered to vacate the boarding house before the 25th of September, but 70 refused to leave, saying that they could not find affordable accommodation elsewhere in Sudan’s capital. In the early morning of 5 October, the second day of the Eid El Adha, security forces raided the dormitory, forcibly evicted the remaining women students, and detained dozens of them. File photo: Protesters in front of the Human Rights Council in Khartoum, calling for the release of the Darfuri women students, 16 October 2014 (Radio Dabanga correspondent)  Related:‘Darfuri women students abused in detention’: activists (16 October 2014)HRW, Arab organisations urge Sudan to probe security attack on students (16 October 2014) Darfuri students detained in Sudan’s capital (8 October 2014)