South Darfur student ‘assaulted, tortured by NISS’: witness

A student has reportedly been detained, assaulted, tortured and then released by “agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)” in the city of Girayda in South Darfur. A student activist told Radio Dabanga on Monday that the incident occurred when some of the 150 displaced students in the area were gathering to be airlifted to university in Nyala. As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, many students have been stranded throughout Darfur as the security situation has made road travel unsafe. Unamid is assisting to airlift many of them. “Unamid agreed to transfer all of the students to their universities, especially to Nyala, but the authorities are using the occasion to recruit members for the National Congress Party (NCP),” the source said.“They are demanding that before being airlifted, students sign a form to join the NCP. When Fatarahman Abakerin refused to sign, elements of the NISS seized him and took him to their offices.” The activist said that Abakerin was “tortured and assaulted severely for three hours, before being released”. He stressed that large numbers of students are indeed filling out the form for fear of being imprisoned and beaten by security services. He termed it “immoral terrorist tactics” that students must join the NCP before they can continue with their studies. File photo: The poor security situation has made it difficult for many Darfur students to return to their universities to start the new academic year (Albert González Farran – Unamid)