UN expert condemns continued killing of protesters in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Adama Dieng UN Expert on Human Rights in Sudan on Saturday strongly condemned the killing of a protester in Sudan and called on the military rulers to ensure the end of violent repression in the country.

Dieng (pictured above) concluded his second visit to Sudan on Saturday after meeting the head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as he prepares a report for a meeting on Sudan on June 15, during the 50th session of the Human Rights Council.

“I would like to say that I was shocked by the killing of a young man yesterday during the protests to mark the violent dispersal by security forces of the 3 June pro-democracy sit-in in Khartoum in 2019,” he told reporters at the end of his visit to Sudan.

He added that the Sudanese authority did not consider his call for restraint and fired live bullets at the protesters who took to the streets to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the bloody raid on a pro-democracy sit-in on June 3, 2019.

Speaking about his meeting with al-Burhan and the government officials, Dieng stressed the need for “more bold and concrete actions” to improve the human rights situation in Sudan.

“I urged them to release all persons arrested under the emergency legislation,” (…) provide clear and public confirmation that the emergency decree of 24 December, (…), is no longer valid; to ensure a definitive end to the use of excessive force against protesters and arbitrary arrests and detention,” reads a statement he released.

He further urged to ensure visible progress in ongoing investigations into human rights violations in the country.

In spite of the official lift of the state of emergency, the security forces continued to use excessive force against protesters. Three people were killed including Ahmed Halawa on June 3 during his visit.

The UN official who had been slammed by Sudanese activists on social media for his lack of reactivity and blunder has clearly condemned the human rights violations by the military leaders after the coup of October 25.

“It is simply unacceptable that 99 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured as a result of excessive use of force by the joint security forces responding to protests,” he said.

During his meetings, he further raised concern about the arbitrary and mass arrest of resistance committee members, protestors, activists, media professionals and others.

According to the statement, he further raised the sexual assault and gender-based violence, torture and ill-treatment of detainees as well as the lack of fair trial.

Dieng disclosed that his report to the Human Rights Council will be released on June 7.

In a statement released after his meeting with the head of the Sovereign Council, the Sudanese presidency said that al-Burhan called to avoid “politicizing human rights issues”.

Al-Burhan assured Dieng of “Sudan’s cooperation with all human rights mechanisms and called on him to be impartial and to get information from official sources”.