Security authorities release two SCoP opposition figures
August 13, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Security authorities Sunday released the former leader of the opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) Ibrahim al-Sheikh and another leading member after nearly a month of arbitrary detention without charge.
Al-Shiekh and the SCoP Secretary General Abu Bakr Youssef Babikir were arrested by the NISS on July 19 as they were returning from Sheikh Yaghout village, White Nile state, to support Darfur students who resigned from the university to protest the detention of their colleague.
The release of the SCoP leading members was announced in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune by the spokesman Mohamed Hassan Arabi saying that Sheikh and Babikir were released on Sunday evening, “without trial or any other judicial proceedings.”
“The arrest came after a solidarity visit to Darfuri students who resigned from Bakht Al-Ruda University who were in Sheikh Yaghout area to protest against the systematic discrimination against them.”
Arabi stressed that the arrest did not have a reason, but “clearly reflects the regime’s rejection of any genuine political action from the (opposition) parties to reach out the masses”.
He further pointed to the lack of freedoms and continued repression in the country saying that their release is a temporary measure “because we will not stop to be with the masses and among them”.
The opposition party organises regularly awareness campaigns and protests in the country. last June the security service arrested nine of its members conducting an information campaign to raise awareness about preventing the spread of cholera.
(ST)