Port Sudan court fines six protesters against land sale

The judge of El Sawra Court in Port Sudan on Sunday imposed a fine of SDG100 ($17) on six people held during a demonstration against the sale of plots at the city’s Wala district.

The residents of the eastern Port Sudan district took to the streets on 25 May, in protest against the Red Sea Ministry of Urban Planning’s decision to evict them from their homes. 

They had agreed to leave the district after the local authorities promised to compensate them for the loss of their houses and land rights. It was expected that the district would be cleared to develop a new residential area. The people were shocked, however, when they found out that plots of the district had been sold to investors, a few days after they had left their homes.

One of the protesters fined told Radio Dabanga that El Sawra Court is “a traditional court, lacking the basics of justice. The convictions were not based on evidence incriminating the accused”.

Jaafar Abdelgader, Hamed Abdallah Hamed, Mohamed Idris Suleiman, Idris Adam Mohamed, Osman Mohamed Omar, and Omar Saleh Mohamed were fined.