Khartoum police ‘arrest killer of Darfuri student’

The police in Khartoum said on Sunday they arrested a man suspected of killing a student from Darfur last week.

The battered body of Awadallah Abakar, chairman of the Darfuri Wadi Saleh Students Association, was found in Jebel Awlia locality in southern Khartoum state on Friday, two days after he disappeared.

A spokesman for the Jebel Awlia police said in a statement on Sunday that they had been able to seize the killer after a woman had filed a complaint.

“During thorough investigations into the claims of the complainant, she confessed that the accused, who is a relative of her, found her and Abakar in a compromising position in a remote area in Jebel Awlia’s El Yarmouk district.”

The complainant reportedly said that the accused thereupon repeatedly beat Abakar with “a solid instrument” that led to the victim’s death.

The police spokesman said that “the judicial confession of the accused has been recorded”. The accused has been charged with murder under article 130 of the Sudanese Criminal Law.

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”.

They accused the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of involvement in the student leader’s death. “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”.