Six students expelled from eastern Sudan university

The administration of the University of Sennar dismissed six students last week because of political activities at the campus. Certificates were withheld from three others. A graduate student was denied access to the campus.

The students received a letter of dismissal without prior notice, a fellow student told Radio Dabanga from Singa, the capital of Sennar. He said that his colleagues had called for protests against the government in Khartoum.

The administration said in a press statement that the students had violated the university’s regulations by being involved in activities which are prohibited by the university’s regulations.

The dismissed students are Mustafa Adil, Khattab Mohamed Ahmed, Mustafa Abdelhamid, Zubeir Mustafa, Ismail Sharafeldin, and Lina Yousef.

Abubaker Rahmatallah, Abdelbagi Abdelmunim, and El Tayeb Ramadan will not receive their certificates, while graduate student El Tahir Manofoli is not permitted to enter the campus again.

In September 2016, the University of Sennar took similar punitive measures against politically active students. Three students were suspended for two years, and nine others received a warning.

“They warned us that any student who calls for a discussion in one of the campus’ discussion corners will be dismissed from the university for good,” a student told this station at the time.

Hundreds of students in Sennar took to the streets in July 2017, in protest against the expulsion of 14 of their colleagues from the University of Bakht El Rida in White Nile state following clashes between student members of Sudan’s ruling party and opposition students.