Hundreds of Sudanese protesters detained on June 30, at least 40 still missing

Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers reported that hundreds of people were detained during the June 30 Marches of Millions, including minors. At least 40 protesters are still missing.

#KeepEyesOnSudan protest poster with the logo of the Sudan Emergency Lawyers (social media)

Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers reported that hundreds of people were detained during the June 30 Marches of Millions, including minors. At least 40 protesters are still missing.

Lawyer Rehab Mubarak said in an interview with the Sudan Today on Radio Dabanga that 44 people detained during the June 30 mass protest marches are still being held at the Northern Section Police Station of Khartoum.

About 40 protesters are still missing. The Emergency Lawyers suspect that they are held in Military Intelligence detention centres in the capital.

Mubarak explained that the authorities released about 300 detainees from the Northern Section alone in the past two days, the last of which were released on Sunday evening. She noted that among the 300 released are more than 30 young women and 25 minors. One of the released detainees sustained a broken arm due to severe beatings from police officers.

People have been detained all across Sudan and the total number could be more than a thousand.

“With the increasing movement of the revolutionary tide in the face of the coup, the coup authorities continued to commit clear violations and obstruct the efforts of the Emergency Lawyers to address these violations that affect the revolutionaries”, the organisation wrote on its social media.

Aerious human rights violations

In a press statement yesterday, the Emergency Lawyers confirmed the existence of places of detention for activists that are not police stations, “which are the only legitimate places for detained demonstrators to be held”.

The statement said that the detentions are carried out by several unknown or anonymised parties, such as military intelligence and the so-called ‘counter intelligence’, which indicates that the decree lifting the State of Emergency did not change anything and left all the decisions, powers, and immunities of the joint forces as they were.

The Emergency Lawyers strongly condemn the continuation of illegal and incommunicado detentions, and consider these human rights violations “a dangerous indication of the return of the mentality, devices, and personnel of the former regime to all illegal practices that violate international law and covenants”.

The statement called on the Public Prosecution to carry out its duties and reveal all places of illegal detention and facilitate access to mortuaries and hospitals for the families of the missing demonstrators.