Sudanese security storm office of prominent lawyer and arrest his clients
May 5, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan security agents on Thursday broke into the office of prominent lawyer and rights activist Nabeel Adib Abdallah and arrested several university students.
On Tuesday, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Khartoum (UofK) decided to shut down the university indefinitely and ordered dismissal of 17 students for involvement in recent demonstrations.
Some of the students went to Abdallah’s office to hire him to challenge the dismissal decision.
Abdallah told Sudan Tribune that 15 armed men in civilian clothes broke into his office on Thursday afternoon and identified themselves as National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) agents.
He pointed that the armed men ordered the students to sit on the ground and started beating them before they took 11 of them and two office employees to an unknown location, saying the two employees were later released.
Abdallah described the incident as “a serious precedent and a flagrant attempt against the legal profession and the defendants’ rights for just trial”, saying he immediately informed the president of the bar association of what had occurred.
Massive demonstrations erupted at the UofK since two weeks ago following press statements made by the Minister of Tourism Mohamed Abu Zaid in which he indicated government intention to transfer the university from its location and to lease out its former premises for tourism purposes.
Dozens of students were arrested and others wounded in the protests following the intervention of the police with tear gas and rubber bullets several times.
(ST)