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Sudanese police beat, gas opposition: party officials

25 December 2010 03:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Sudanese authorities beat and tear gassed opposition party members on their way to Friday prayers in the latest crackdown ahead of a January 9 referendum likely to split Africa’s largest state, party officials said, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Since a brief easing of restrictions during elections last April, Sudan has cracked down on the press and rights activists, and refuses permission for any protest opposing government policies.
Analysts say the government is feeling vulnerable ahead of the referendum, which is expected result in south Sudan seceding against the wishes of Khartoum.
"There was an Umma Party meeting in the party headquarters and when members left to go to the mosque for prayers, police beat them with batons and tear gassed them," senior Umma Party official Sara Nuqdullah told Reuters, adding three people were injured.
Opposition parties do not require permission to meet in their own party headquarters. Nuqdullah said the meeting was to discuss the referendum.
Umma Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was Sudan’e last democratically elected prime minister. His daughter Mariam, the party spokeswoman, was in hospital on Friday after being beaten on her head and arm, Nuqdullah and a witness said.
The police spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
Rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday that a Sudanese court had sentenced high profile rights activist Mudawi Ibrahim to one year in jail for embezzlement despite an earlier acquittal which found no fraud within his aid agency, SUDO, one of many shut down last year.
The case was appealed by the governmental Humanitarian Aid Commission, Amnesty said, and on December 22 despite no further evidence Ibrahim was found guilty.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the statement but Ibrahim has been arrested at least three times since 2003.
Last week police arrested 50 women during a sit down protest against laws they say target women unfairly after a video of a Sudanese woman being flogged was released on the internet.
Many fear the north will become an isolated and extremist Islamic state post secession and Western nations have been offering Khartoum economic incentives to take a more pluralistic approach to government.
Sudan’s army on Friday denied reports a day earlier by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement of clashes in Darfur. "They went into Dar es-Salaam town in North Darfur and attacked police in the market in an effort to show they have a presence on the ground," said army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled. "But we have no troops there and did not clash with JEM."