Sudanese journalist tortured, beaten in two-day interrogation

A Sudanese journalist was tortured by security agents during interrogations which lasted for two consecutive days. Speaking to Radio Dabanga a day after his release, he claimed he was beaten and strangled several times during the questioning in Khartoum this week Abdelrahman El Ajeb, for El Yaum El Tali daily newspaper, was released on Wednesday. He was detained on 22 September, along with nine youths, in downtown Khartoum. El Ajeb explained that the security forces took him to their office in El Amarat district, where he spent three days. “I was questioned about my relations with the organisation of the recent commemorating services for the martyrs of the September 2013 demonstrations in Sudan,” he said. The security agents also interrogated him about his relations with youth movements, and the chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), Ibrahim El Sheikh. On the third day, he was transferred to the security detention centre in Khartoum North, near Shendi bus station. “I have spent seven days there before being released yesterday, after ten days of detention without any charges laid upon me.” The Sudanese security apparatus held a detention campaign in Khartoum last week, in an attempt to prevent commemoration services of the victims of the September 2013 protests. On 23 September it was exactly one year ago since security forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in Sudan, who went to the streets in protest against the lifting of fuel subsidies. Hundreds of people were killed. File photo Related: Sudan security quizzes El Gedaref youth about graffiti (1 October 2014) Sudan’s Umma Party condemns continuing Khartoum detentions (26 September 2014)