Teargas and warning shots at Khartoum funeral of tortured Darfur student

15/02/2010 19:39

(By Radio Dabanga – Last Edit 14:22) KHARTOUM (15 Feb) – Sudanese Police used teargas and fired bullets in the air to scatter attendants of the funeral of the tortured and killed Darfur student Mohamed Musa in El Thaura 54 Cemetry this afternoon.

(By Radio Dabanga – Last Edit 14:22)

KHARTOUM (15 Feb) – Sudanese Police used teargas and fired bullets in the air to scatter attendants of the funeral of the tortured and killed Darfur student Mohamed Musa in El Thaura 54 Cemetry this afternoon. The body was laying next to the open grave abandoned by the relatives due to the smoke. A crowd of between five and seven hundred students and relatives from Darfur this morning took part in protests during the funeral of Darfurian student, Mohamed Musa, who was tortured and killed in Khartoum last week. They chanted lines such as ‘There is a curse on the killer Omar al Bashir’ as well as slogans like ‘Students: sacrifice yourself for Sudan’. (Listen to: chanting students at funeral) Large numbers of police and security forces have surrounded the funeral place. This morning the government refused the family’s request to bury the student either in Sahafa (South of Central Khartoum) or at the Hamed al Nile (Central Omdurman) cemetries. The relatives are only allowed to bury him in a remote cemetry near El Thaura (North-West of Omdurman). The SPLM candidate for the presidency, Yassir Arman, also attended the funeral together with regional ministers from Darfur. Their presence sought to help prevent violence and any intervention by government security forces, as Radio Dabanga reported today.

This morning (Monday) the funeral of the slain student from the Education Faculty of Khartoum University changed gradually into a demonstration against the government. During the funeral rites the student’s father, Musa Abdallah Bahr el Din, cried out loud and asked for justice from the government. The father of Mohamed Musa arrived in Khartoum yesterday from the family’s hometown, Kebkabiya, in North Darfur. As soon as he got off the local plane yesterday afternoon (Sunday) security personnel took him to an isolated place forcing him to sign a document and remove his son’s body from the morgue. The father said he wanted to refuse to sign the document, stating that he first needed to find a place to bury his son,  the family told Radio Dabanga. The police have up to now refused to release the medical report that documents the bruises, signs of burned skin parts and the wounds inflicted on Mohamed Musa that caused his death. The Darfur Bar Association have confirmed that Mohamed Musa, who was a mathematics student at the Education Faculty of Khartoum University, disappeared on Wednesday after security officers arrested him. His dead body was found on Thursday in Omdurman (West of Khartoum). Darfurian students and politicians started protests after students and relatives of Mohamed Musa revealed to Radio Dabanga that the student, who was a member of the Darfur Student Union, had been tortured and killed. The management of the Omdurman hospital refused to release the body fearing violence and mass protests in front of the hospital.