Two doctors, journalists arrested at protest in eastern Sudan

Doctors and medical staff in a hospital in El Gedaref, eastern Sudan, laid down their work completely on Thursday following the detention of two doctors by the security apparatus. They will not return to their work until the two are released. Three journalists covering the protest were arrested.

A sit-in by the health practitioners, just outside the Gedaref Public Hospital, on Thursday protested the suspension of 80 junior doctors in the state. Doctors Jamal Khalid, a specialist gynecologist, and Sadek Osman Bukhari, an esoteric specialist, were detained during the sit-in.

The Sudanese security service further arrested three journalists for covering the protest, reported the Sudan’s Journalistsfor Human Rights (JHR). “The Security Service arrested on Thursday morning, Mohamed Salman, a reporter of El Tayar newspaper, Salihin El Awad, a reporter of Khartoum newspaper, and Suleiman Mokhtar, a reporter at Almajhar newspaper, from inside Gedaref Hospital while covering a strike for doctors,” JHR said.

According to the press advocacy group in Sudan , the journalists were conducted to the security service headquarters in Gadaref where they were detained from 11am to 1pm. However, the three journalists were released without being interrogated during the short detention.

A civil rights activist who attended the sit-in spoke to Radio Dabanga. He appealed to the Sudanese government to solve the problem at the El Gedaref Public Hospital immediately, and to respond to the demands of the doctors and hospital workers, so the situation will not reflect on the conditions of the patients in the hospital.

Doctors and medical staff in a hospital in El Gedaref, eastern Sudan, laid down their work completely on Thursday following the detention of two doctors by the security apparatus. They will not return to their work until the two are released. Three journalists covering the protest were arrested.

A sit-in by the health practitioners, just outside the Gedaref Public Hospital, on Thursday protested the suspension of junior doctors in the state. Doctors Jamal Khalid, a specialist gynecologist, and Sadeg Osman Bukhari, an esoteric specialist, were detained during the sit-in.

The Sudanese security service further arrested three journalists for covering the protest, reported the Sudanese Journalists association for Human Rights (JAHR). "The Security Service arrested on Thursday morning, Mohamed Salman, a reporter of El Tayar newspaper, Salihin El Awad, a reporter of Khartoum newspaper, and Suleiman Mukhtar, a reporter at El Mujhar newspaper, from inside El Gedaref Hospital while covering a strike for doctors," JAHR said.

According to the press advocacy group in Sudan, the journalists were conducted to the security service headquarters in El Gedaref where they were detained from 11am to 1pm. However, the three journalists were released without being interrogated during the short detention.

A civil rights activist who attended the sit-in spoke to Radio Dabanga. He appealed to the Sudanese government to solve the problem at the El Gedaref Public Hospital immediately, and to respond to the demands of the doctors and hospital workers, so the situation will not reflect on the conditions of the patients in the hospital.