Khartoum university professors demand students’ release, Sudan

Professors of the Khartoum University in the Sudanese capital are demanding the release of students who were arrested last Friday after security forces reportedly invaded the campus beating and arresting dozens of undergraduates. In a statement, professors are further demanding that perpetrators are brought to justice, that injured students are treated and that those who lost their properties receive compensation.They also ask that the university’s administration puts an end to this type of violence by gathering academics to inform the public about the facts of last week’s occurrence.  Meanwhile, members of the students union of the Khartoum University demanded on Monday that government authorities reimburse “without delay” all students who have lost their properties. The union pointed out that security services had the support of undergraduates loyal to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), who they call Rabbatah, during last Friday’s offensive. They further demanded that those involved in the assault are held accountable and that the University Mosque Committee be dissolved. As it appears, the committee provided a hiding place inside the university’s mosque for the weapons, metal bars and machetes used during the attack, the union was quoted as saying. On its turn, the Sudanese Organization for Rights and Freedoms is demanding the immediate release the detained students and that perpetrators are brought to justice. It is also calling for an independent investigation into the incidents at the university that “terrorized the students, is alien to the Sudanese community and is incompatible with human rights”. The organization’s chairman, Dr. Farouk Mohamed Ibrahim, has strongly condemned the “crimes” committed at the Khartoum University. He said that all facts emerging from an independent investigation, should it take place, must be made public. Students speaking to Radio Dabanga affirmed the assault at the Khartoum University was in retaliation after undergraduates prevented Sudan’s second vice-president al-Haj Adam Youssef from attending a graduation ceremony on Thursday, 31 January.Photo: Khartoum University (file)Related: Security forces burn ‘246 beds’ at Khartoum university, Sudan (3 February 2013)