Khartoum sit-in for slain protestors holds firm

Sit-ins and protests continued in Khartoum yesterday to demand justice for protestors killed, and the release of nine detained activists. The sit-in in El Jereif East in Khartoum North continued on Wednesday for the seventh consecutive day to demand justice for the two protestors killed during the Marches of the Millions on October 21.

Protesters set up a sit-in in front of El Jereif East-El Manshiya bridge on October 22, blocking all traffic except pedestrians. The activists say they will lift their protest after the killers have been brought to justice and those responsible held accountable.

The Governor of Khartoum, Ayman Nimir, announced the suspension of the East Nile police chief and the commander of the force present at the site of the violent event in El Jereif East on October 21.

The governor of Khartoum said in a statement that he had received notification from the Prime Minister’s office that the police command arrested two officials for the purpose of interrogating them by the Public Prosecution.

He pointed to the formation of an investigation committee by the Attorney General, headed by a prosecutor and including a lawyer from El Jereif East, “to guarantee the rights of the activists and their support for the work of the investigation committee”.

Call for activists’ release

The Resistance Committees of El Lamab Nasir in Burri district in Khartoum, organised a protest in front of the Public Prosecution offices on Wednesday, against the prolonged detention of nine activists from the neighbourhood.

The Resistance Committees delivered a memorandum to the Attorney General, Tajelsir El Hibir, demanding “his guarantee for the safety for the El Lamab revolutionaries after the prosecution arbitrarily charged them with “grievous bodily harm” of a member of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

El Hibir instructed the referral of the file to the High Prosecutor of Khartoum, Justice Seif El Yazal, to follow up the procedures for attesting the guarantee.

The Central Khartoum Criminal Court on Sunday acquitted nine protesters charged with killing a RSF paramilitary during the violent dispersal of the sit-in in front of the army command on June 3 last year. The accused spent 15 months in detention. In response, the RSF filed a complaint on charges of serious harm of another RSF member. The prosecution refused to release them on bail.

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