Dozens of demonstrators still detained in Sudan’s Gedaref

Police in eastern Sudan's El Gedaref still detain more than a hundred residents and threaten to try them for rioting, which could lead to ten years in prison. They demonstrated against the bad services during the rainy season.

The residents of El Geneina, El Tadamon and Abaker Jibril districts have been detained for four days in a row, a listener told Radio Dabanga on Monday. “There are children among the detainees,” the listener reported. “But no complaints have been filed against them so far.”

The demonstrations carried out on Friday and Saturday following flash floods in the areas were aimed to demand improvement of the provision of services. The floods damaged houses and dirty water ponds reportedly caused the spread of mosquitoes and diseases, the head of the local youth association said.

The police and Sudanese security service have threatened to try the detainees according to a new anti-demonstration law in Sudan, which allows for imprisonment sentences of up to five or ten years.

After an amendment to Article 182 in the beginning of this year, it now states an imprisonment sentence of a maximum five years for damaging properties during riots. Additionally, damage through the use of fire is now punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment.

Residents reported to Radio Dabanga that policemen and members of the security service threatened the protesters with trying them under Article 182.

A person in El Tadamon said that the floods still threaten the three districts because of heavy rains today and expected in the upcoming days. The government's neglect of the area is the cause of the current situation, he claimed: “The residences were built without prior studies of the land and the water situation.”

Activist arrested

Last week, security agents in Kassala arrested well-known Sudanese activist Abdelrahman Ali.

A friend of Ali told Radio Dabanga that the security service in Kassala arrested him in the second day of Eid el-Fitr without explaining the reasons for the arrest.

Read more:

Sudan: Amendment means protesters could now face five years in prison (25 January 2016)