Port Sudan curfew breakers whipped, shaved, passport confiscated

Residents of Port Sudan, capital of Red Sea state, were beaten with whips and had their hair forcibly cut on Wednesday evening because they allegedly violated the curfew in the city. A female student had her hair cut as well for not covering her head.

Journalist Amin Sinada told Radio Dabanga that the perpetrators of the violence in Port Sudan were army soldiers and members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia. He considers the assaults “a humiliation of citizens and a flagrant violation of human rights”.

Female student

Wahaj El Tayeb, a female student at the East Nile University’s Media School in Khartoum, had her hair cut forcibly by a man wearing a RSF uniform.

She said that the militiaman stopped her after she left the university and asked her why she did not cover her hair. He then cut her hair, while none of the passers-by raised any objections.

She posted a photo on her Facebook account after her hair was cut, saying that she had started to take legal action.

Blogger

In Khartoum, blogger Ibrahim ‘Showtime’ accused members of the security forces of assaulting him on Wednesday, confiscating his passport, his money, and his camera equipment.

‘Showtime’, who runs the Sudanese El Hurra [Freedom] page on Facebook, said he escaped arrest by taking refuge in the embassy of Ethiopia.

In two live broadcasts on Facebook, he shows the members of the security forces that seized his personal belongings and who tried to arrest him. They left immediately after he entered the Ethiopian embassy building.

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