Sudan AG submits final report on excessive force at Feb 20 demo

On Thursday, Sudan’s Attorney General Tajelsir El Hibir submitted the final report of the recently formed committee that investigated the excessive use of force against protestors on February 20, 2020, to PM Hamdok. According to the report, 57 protestors and 12 policemen were injured.

On February 23, Radio Dabanga reported that Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has formed a committee that will investigative the use of excessive force against peaceful protestors. The Sudanese Ministry of Health reported at the time that 53 people were injured during the demonstrations.

At a press conference for local and international media on Thursday, the attorney general said that the investigative committee was formed by people whose integrity and impartiality were beyond doubts.

Its members included the minister of Cabinet Affairs, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, and a representative of the Steering Committee of the Sudanese Bar Association.

The investigative committee collected information on facts and circumstances, and testimonies about the incident from the commander of operations, the director of Khartoum state police, and all the officers who were at the scene of the incident on that day, as well as all the victims and affected people.

The committee also assessed the damage that occurred as a result of the violence. “The committee proposed a number of recommendations to avoid or prevent this kind of incidents from happening in the future,” he said.

On February 20, thousands of demonstrators in Khartoum and other cities condemned the dismissal of army officers who supported the popular uprising before President Al Bashir was ousted on April 11, 2019. The police reacted with excessive violence, using tear gas and batons.

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