Authorities in Kassala released a number of people convicted of rioting and violating the public order after they served their prison sentences.<\/p>\n
One of the people released told Radio Dabanga they were beaten and tortured by the police, to force them to confess that they had been involved in rioting and torching government facilities.<\/p>\n
The police seized 118 people, including women and children, in Wad El Helew town, mid-September last year, in response to their protest against the detention of one of them. All belong to the West African Hausa tribe.<\/p>\n
“After a trader from Kassala had hit a Hausa man reciting Koran verses in front of a mosque in Wad El Helew early September last year, the police detained both of them,” he explained.<\/p>\n
“We were shocked to hear that not much later the trader was released, and the Koran reciter was kept in custody. When we protested, they detained 118 of us. 27 were released on bail not much later, while 91 of us were sentenced to jail and fines.”<\/p>\n
The former inmate accused the authorities of “collectively punishing people of a certain background”, and appealed to humanitarian and human rights organisations, as well as the media, to intervene, and support the release of the Hausa, who are still imprisoned. <\/p>\n