Tear gas is fired at Sudanese demonstrators during an anti-government protest in Khartoum, Sudan February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer
Khartoum- Ahdem Younes
Friday, 8 February, 2019 - 10:00
Thousands of Sudanese defied tough measures taken by the security forces and took part in a mass demonstration in the Arab Souk, Khartoum’s largest market, in response to a call by the Sudanese Professionals’ Gathering to protest against the regime of President Omar Bashir.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Commission of Inquiry into the Victims of Demonstrations said that a teacher arrested during the protests was killed because of beating and torture while in detention in the Kassala State Security and Intelligence Service.
Amer Mohammed Ibrahim, the head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Commission of Inquiry, said that teacher Ahmed al-Khair, died on Friday due to injuries caused by a “solid object”.
“The cause of death is from various injuries to his body from a solid, flexible object, to his back, kidneys and thighs, and between his legs,” Ibrahim told reporters.
He added that the prosecution requested the handover of security officers who are responsible for the crime.
Kassala’s governor and police chief had claimed that the teacher died of food poisoning during his arrest, while the medical report proved that samples taken from the victim did not contain any toxic substances.
Meanwhile, despite Bashir’s pledge on Wednesday to release all detained journalists immediately, the last couple of days did not witness any release of detainees, but only a new wave of arrests.
Security forces used new types of tear gas canisters, firing four bombs at once. Faisal, a young demonstrator, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the protesters adopted on Thursday “a good tactic to mislead the security forces and reach the venue of the demonstrations, which were brutally attacked.”
Observers considered the massive participation in Thursday’s demonstrations as an indication that the wave of protests did not start to decline, especially as it succeeded for the first time to reach the center of Khartoum, which security forces turned into a security barracks.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Commission of Inquiry into the Victims of Demonstrations said that a teacher arrested during the protests was killed because of beating and torture while in detention in the Kassala State Security and Intelligence Service.
Amer Mohammed Ibrahim, the head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Commission of Inquiry, said that teacher Ahmed al-Khair, died on Friday due to injuries caused by a “solid object”.
“The cause of death is from various injuries to his body from a solid, flexible object, to his back, kidneys and thighs, and between his legs,” Ibrahim told reporters.
He added that the prosecution requested the handover of security officers who are responsible for the crime.
Kassala’s governor and police chief had claimed that the teacher died of food poisoning during his arrest, while the medical report proved that samples taken from the victim did not contain any toxic substances.
Meanwhile, despite Bashir’s pledge on Wednesday to release all detained journalists immediately, the last couple of days did not witness any release of detainees, but only a new wave of arrests.
Security forces used new types of tear gas canisters, firing four bombs at once. Faisal, a young demonstrator, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the protesters adopted on Thursday “a good tactic to mislead the security forces and reach the venue of the demonstrations, which were brutally attacked.”
Observers considered the massive participation in Thursday’s demonstrations as an indication that the wave of protests did not start to decline, especially as it succeeded for the first time to reach the center of Khartoum, which security forces turned into a security barracks.
