Security force attack student protest, killing one
On 28 January 2018, human rights defender Nasraldeen Mokhtar was released. He sustained an eye injury as a result of torture during his time in detention.
On 7 January 2018, Sudanese security and police forces attacked secondary school students engaging in a peaceful protest, killing one and injuring several others in Al-Geneina, West Darfur. The incident takes part as part of a wider policy of repression of student activism.
Nasraldeen Mokhtar, head of the Darfur Students Association at AlQuran Alkareem University, is a student human rights defender focusing on the right to education in Darfur. On 22 August 2017, he was arrested along with a third year student in the faculty of law, and remains in detention without charge or trial, in violation of international human rights standards.
Update: On 28 January 2018, human rights defender Nasraldeen Mokhtar was released. He sustained an eye injury as a result of torture during his time in detention.
On 7 January 2018, Sudanese security and police forces attacked secondary school studentsengaging in a peaceful protest, killing one and injuring several others in Al-Geneina, West Darfur.
The incident takes part as part of a wider policy of repression of student activism.
A peaceful protest on 7 January 2018, involving hundreds of secondary school students was held inAl-Madaris neighborhood, Al-Geneina. The protest was organised to demonstrate against the rising cost of bread. Nineteen-year-old Alzubair Alsukairan, a student at Noor Almaarif Secondary School, was fatally shot and six others were wounded. That afternoon at approximatively 3:00PM, tear gas was fired at individuals who gathered to receive the body of Alzubair Alsukairan from the Al-Geneina hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Other students who were injured at the protest as a result of police gunfire include fifteen-year-old Issam Yahia, who was shot in the arm; sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abdullah, shot in the leg; fifteen-year-old Ibrahim Yousif; fifteen-year-old Azza Hamdan, who was shot in the arm; fifteen-year-old Safa Suleiman, shot in the thigh; and sixteen-year-old Albdulhaleem Alabideen, who was shot in the head.
The repression of students mobilising to work on human rights issues and draw attention to human rights violations in Sudan is a worrying trend as the attack of 7 January 2018 is the most recent crackdown on Sudanese student human rights defenders in recent months. Nasraldeen Mokhtar, head of the Darfur Students Association at AlQuran Alkareem University, is a student human rights defender focusing on the right to education in Darfur. A third year student in the faculty of law, he was arrested on 22 August 2017, and remains in detention without charge or trial, in violation of international human rights standards.
Front Line Defenders condemns the excessive use of force by Sudanese police forces and calls for an immediate investigation into the incident and an end to the continuing repression of student human rights defenders. It further underlines that under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to freedom of expression (article 13) and that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions” (article 2).
Front Line Defenders calls upon the government of Sudan to:
1. Strongly condemn the killing of Alzubair Alsukairan;
2. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the killing of Alzubair Alsukairan and the shooting of Issam Yahia, Muhammad Abdullah, Ibrahim Yousif; Azza Hamdan, Safa Suleiman, and Albdulhaleem Alabideen, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
3. Immediately and unconditionally release Nasraldeen Mokhtar, as Front Line Defenders believesthat he is being held solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
4. Provide the necessary medical treatment for injured student human rights defenders and protesters;
5. Cease targeting all human rights defenders and activists in Sudan and guarantee in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment;
6. Guarantee freedom of assembly and the right to peaceful protest, as guaranteed under article 5 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
