KHARTOUM: Thirty-five people appeared in court yesterday accused of vandalism during a week of deadly anti-government riots in Sudan, a lawyer said, the first legal proceedings reported in the capital linked to the violence.
Sudanese authorities have said they arrested 700 people during the worst unrest in central Sudan in years, triggered by cuts to subsidies on cooking oil and fuel that doubled pump prices overnight.
Rights groups and some diplomats said up to 150 people died when security services opened fire on crowds last week. The government put the death toll at 34 and denied shooting any protesters, whom it dismissed as “vandals”.
A group of 35 people appeared before a judge in Khartoum’s poor Haj Youssef district, defence lawyer Mutassim Al Haj said. Among the defendants were five people from South Sudan, three women and eight teenagers, he said.
“None of them was actually arrested during the demonstrations but only on the following day,” Haj added.
The judge offered to release the group on a bail of 20,000 Sudanese pounds ($2,500) but they could not raise the funds, he said.
Human rights activist have accused plain-clothed security agents of arresting scores of youths in house searches after the protests erupted.
Protests have largely ended in Khartoum amid tight security.
Around 45 women gathered in front of the security headquarters in the capital yesterday to demand the release of all prisoners.
The government cut subsidies to ease a financial crunch aggravated by the secession of oil-producing South Sudan in 2011.
REUTERS
