Sudan students association fears torture of detainees

The Darfuri Students Association holds the government responsible for the safety of 15 detained university students, and demands their immediate release.

The detainees might be subjected to torture by the security, a member of the leadership of the association expressed his concerns to Radio Dabanga. Among the detainees are three women students.

He said he was surprised that eight of the students have been kept in the detention of the security service and that they have not been handed over to the police.

A family visit to one of the students has been allowed, while the others are not allowed to receive visits from their relatives, according to the student association, which has sparked the concern of their possible physical torture.

The student association leader complained that the security service is violently detaining students during the holy month of Ramadan.

He called on human rights and humanitarian organisations to put pressure on the government, especially in the case of Asim Omar, the student facing the death penalty on charges of murder. Asim has been tortured at night by security agents, the association claimed, to force him to write a judicial confession of committing the murder.

The number of student demonstrations grew over a rumoured plan by the university administration to sell-off faculty buildings and move University of Khartoum facilities to the outskirts of the city ‘to make way for tourist attractions’ in the beginning of May. The Ministry of the Interior has denied being responsible for the arrest of university students during these protests in Khartoum. It holds the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) responsible for the detentions.