NCP supporters disrupt female students’ discussion of Darfur crimes
June 15, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Several male supporters of the National Congress Party disguised themselves as women in order to infiltrate and disrupt a gathering held by Darfur women students at the University of Khartoum today.
The Darfur students were engaged in a legal discussion on the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant issued to arrest the top member of the NCP, President Omer al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The students affirmed the legal liability of al-Bashir and his formal obligation to surrender himself to the ICC.
According to the Sudan Human Rights Organization (SHRO-Cairo), in the course of the discussion, male supporters of the ruling party, who had dressed themselves up in women’s clothes to be able to stay inside the discussion hall at the female section of the campus, violently attacked the Darfur women.
Under law, women are supposed to have the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly on campus. Earlier crackdowns against supporters of the ICC warrant occurred in March, soon after the warrant was issued, when security forces made incursions on campus to disperse public meetings about the issue.
On March 19, security forces and student backers of the NCP used steel bars to attack a meeting organized by the United Democratic Front (UDF), a student organization supporting the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahid Al-Nur. Two students were detained in the assault.
“SHRO links this unprecedented violence with the permanent orders the President of the State and the NIF/NCP ruling party instigated to be forcibly executed by the Security and Intelligence Department against all citizens who spoke favourably for the ICC warrant of arrest,” said the Cairo-based rights organization in a statement.
“Accused of supporting the ICC decision, a few human rights activists and several journalists had been arbitrarily arrested and/or put to trial by government authorities recently.”
Today SHRO condemned “the illegal climate of violence the government has been spreading over the public life in pursuit of the President’s personal effort to silence all comments on the international prosecution and the warrant of arrest issued against him by the ICC.”
SHRO is asking the government party and supporters “to act in accordance with the rule of law, the decent manners of Sudanese traditions, and the deserved respect to the female students in the university.”
The rights organization urges the NCP supporters to be dealt with according to university laws, the Code of Ethics, and furthermore prosecuted under criminal law for any grievous injuries.
(ST)