Khartoum Criminal Court acquits ten students from Darfur

El Doroshab Criminal Court in Khartoum North acquitted ten Darfuri students of the University of Bahri on Tuesday.

“The cases filed by the security apparatus against them were closed, as the prosecution could not provide any evidence about their presence at the Kadaro campus during the raids,” the Darfur Bar Association (DBA) said in a statement, issued after the court session.

The ten acquitted are all first year students at the Univeristy of Bahri in Kadaro district, Khartoum North. “They live together in a rented house near the campus, and were detained by security agents inside their house at about 11 am on Monday, while they were having breakfast,” the statement reported.     

After a number of students from Darfur were expelled from Bahri University last month for not paying their tuition fees, the Darfur Students Association on Monday organised a meeting at the Kadaro compound on Monday morning. Government forces stormed the campus, beat, and held a number of students. They proceeded searching the university’s facilities and houses in the neighbourhood rented to Darfuri students, and detained dozens more.

The ten acquitted were charged with criminal spoliation, terrorism, stirring hatred between communities, and violating public order and public safety.

According to the Darfur lawyers, 56 Darfuri students are still in custody, waiting for a court session, adjourned to 4 January. “At least one other student is held incommunicado by the security.”

The DBA is also offering legal support to 26 Darfuri students of the University of Sennar in eastern Sudan. They were detained by the security apparatus in Sennar town, during raids on the students’ dormitories on Friday and Saturday.