Sudan student’s 10-year sentence for ‘a joke turned into a tragedy’ denounced as ‘unjust’

The 10-year prison sentence issued on Thursday against student Mustafa El Ghazali, on charges of collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has sparked a wave of condemnation among students of Al-Zaim Al-Azhar University, who described the decision as “unfair and unjust.” The family of El Ghazali say that the Atbara court imposed the sentence because of a text message in which he jokingly told his friend that he had joined theRSF, before he directly denied it in the same conversation.

El Ghazali, a student at the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels at Al-Zaim Al-Azhari University and a resident of the Sheikh El Amin area in the East Nile, was arrested on February 19 at the Khaliwa checkpoint near Atbara, after returning from Cairo to take his university exams and go to work in the Abu Hamad area. He was detained in the artillery detention centre of Atbara.

The family noted that the court held three sessions, during which it heard the complainant and seven witnesses, all of whom confirmed his innocence and that he had no connection to any armed party. The court issued its sentence on July 31 to 10 years in prison. The family confirmed that the defense lawyer will file a formal appeal against the verdict on Sunday morning.

Statement from the College Students

The students of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels at the university issued a media statement in which they appealed to local and international public opinion and human rights organisations to intervene urgently to stop what they described as a “grave violation of justice.” The statement confirmed that the charge against Mustafa was based on a “passing joke” he told his friend, which had no criminal intent, and that no evidence was presented to prove the accusation.

The statement said that El Ghazali is known among his colleagues for his “high morals and academic discipline”, and that he has never been involved in any political or military activity, stressing that “the verdict is not proportionate to the nature of the incident and does not take the principles of fairness into account”. The students call for a review of the ruling, calling on human rights organisations to intervene urgently to advocate for the student.

Courts across the country continue to issue rulings that independent human rights expert Radwan Nuwaiser has described as “harsh and lacks judicial safeguards”. Last week, the Omdurman Central Court sentenced a member of the political bureau of the National Umma Party to death amid denunciation from the party’s general secretariat, which noted that the trial took place too quickly and without allowing him to defend himself or have access to his lawyer.