Cairo, Sep 3 (IANS/EFE) Amnesty International (AI) Wednesday accused the Sudanese security forces of killing, injuring and torturing protesters, urging that those responsible for these acts be brought to justice.
The charges were detailed in AI's latest report which was prepared along with the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and entitled "The Excessive and Deadly: The use of force, detention and torture against protesters in Sudan".
The report documents allegations of human rights violations committed by the security forces against mostly peaceful protesters over the past two years.
"The violent crackdown on dissent has meant that people expressing genuine grievances at government repression and economic austerity measures are met with batons, beatings and bullets," said Manar Idriss, Amnesty International's Sudan researcher.
ACJPS programme director Katherine Perks said that the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, including at times lethal force, by the security forces appears to be a deliberate attempt to crush protest.
The absence of accountability for those in the security forces illustrates the dangerous culture of impunity that exists in Sudan, she said.
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The report examines four protesters who were violently dispersed by the police, the National Intelligence Security Services, and other security forces in protests across the country in June and September 2012 and in October 2013.
It also includes vivid testimony of demonstrations at Al Jazeera University in December 2012 and the University of Khartoum in March 2014. At least 185 people were killed during the 2013 protests.
--IANS/EFE
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