4 Sudanese opposition leaders arrested

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudanese opposition leaders have been arrested late Wednesday after they expressed solidarity with university students from Darfur.
The leaders joined a march of Darfuri students, who are protesting the expulsion of their 14 colleagues from Bakht Alrida University.
The expelled students are accused of being involved in the killing of a policeman.
On Tuesday, over 1,000 students resigned from the university, demanding readmission of their colleagues.
The resignations sparked mass condemnation against the Sudanese government, with opposition parties calling on Sudanese people to show solidarity with the students.
In a joint statement, the opposition parties denounced the arrests of Sudanese Congress party leaders.
The four arrested leaders from the Sudanese Congress party are former chairman of the party Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, Political Secretary Abu Bakr Yousef, Human Rights Secretary Amani Malik and the party’s Political Secretary in Khartoum state Mwahib Magzoub, the statement read.
The Sudanese authorities have not yet commented on the development.
A source from Darfuri students’ association said that hundreds of students have been blocked by the Sudanese authorities outside the capital Khartoum as they tried to expand their protests to the capital Khartoum.
“We are blocked from entering Khartoum to raise our genuine issue,” the source, who asked not to be named due to security reasons, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.
However, the Bakht Alrida University administration has rejected the students’ claims, saying the university is treating its entire students equally regardless of their ethnical or political background.