NISS detains another teacher for organising South Darfur protest

The security service has detained the head of the teachers' union in Gireida, South Darfur, against the backdrop of an organised demonstration last Thursday.

Ahmed Abdallah Haroun was detained on Tuesday at 2pm, while on his way from school to his house, and taken to the office of the NISS.

A listener in Gireida expressed his concern to Radio Dabanga that Haroun might be subjected to torture or bad treatment by the NISS agents.

Haroun is not the first teacher to be detained in Gireida and accused of organising a demonstration against the repeated militia attacks in Joghana area, on Thursday 10 November. After the mass was forcefully dispersed, the NISS launched a search in the villages and camps for displaced people to detain the organisers of the protest.

Mohamed Mousa Dawood, Shamsuldin Mohamed Harin, Saber Abdulla Ahmed and Bahruldin Adam El Toam were detained last Friday and have been transferred to a detention centre in Nyala, a source said. The authorities have so far released Suad Adam Abdallah, Mohamed El Mubarak Osman Yagoub, and Idris Abakar.

On Sunday, community elders and activists in Gireida appealed to the South Darfur governor and the locality commissioner to arrange their release or to take them to a fair trial.