Khartoum – The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee on Wednesday mourned the deaths of two primary school teachers who allegedly died under torture while being held in military custody in South Kordofan State, central Sudan.
In a press statement, the committee said it “mourns a group of the noblest members of the teaching profession and strongly condemns the crime of arbitrary detention and torture to death inside the military intelligence detention facilities in the city of Dilling.”
The committee identified the victims as Imam Al-Dhai, a primary school teacher from the village of Al-Farshaya in South Kordofan, who died on Monday after being subjected to torture at the 54th Infantry Brigade’s military intelligence detention center, and his cousin and colleague Tartour Al-Dhai, who died in November following similar brutal torture.
According to the committee, citing credible accounts from the families of the two victims, the teachers had been summoned several months ago by the local education department in Dilling purportedly to collect their salaries. Upon arrival, they were detained by military intelligence without a judicial warrant, charge, or referral to any legal authority. During their detention, they were reportedly tortured and mistreated, resulting in severe health deterioration that led to their deaths — an act described by the committee as a “blatant violation of human and legal values.”
The Teachers’ Committee held military intelligence in Dilling fully responsible for what it called “the crime of arbitrary detention and torture leading to death” of the two educators. It emphasized that “this is not an isolated incident but a complete criminal act and a grave violation of the right to liberty, personal security, and life. Torture and killing under torture constitute severe breaches of national and international human rights law and are crimes that do not lapse over time.”
The statement added that legal responsibility extends to “all those who issued, implemented, concealed, or failed to act upon the orders,” including relevant military and security leaders.
The committee called for an independent and transparent criminal investigation, under the supervision of impartial judicial authorities, to uncover the circumstances of the incident. It urged that all those involved — both commanders and perpetrators — be held accountable and brought to justice without immunity.
It also demanded the immediate release of arbitrarily detained teachers, an end to the targeting of educators and educational institutions, and the protection of teachers’ dignity and rights. The union further called for justice for the victims’ families and compensation for the harm suffered.
The statement stressed the need to end the culture of impunity that has enabled such abuses and to prevent militarization and repression within the education system.
Sudan has been witnessing a bloody power struggle since April 2023 between de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
(DPA)
