SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Human Rights Watch - Sudan: Lethal Force Used Against Protesters

19/5/2021: Human Rights Watch - Sudan: Lethal Force Used Against Protesters

After Sudan’s armed forces “used excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters” on May 11 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported from nine witnesses who alleged the military’s “heavy-handed response”.

Soldiers reportedly formed “cordons” around the crowd, “which hindered their dispersal, allowing for only a narrow exit”. Soldiers then allegedly encircled the protesters, making it hard for them to leave, before “apparently unprovoked and without warning” starting to beat them.

One protester said they saw a soldier shooting indiscriminately “at a direct level toward people, not in the air…like he did not care where the bullet would hit”.

HRW note that attorney general Tajelsir al-Hibr said the injuries of the two killed protesters “may indicate that the shooting was intentional”.

HRW Horn of Africa director Laetitia Bader called on Sudan’s international partners to “ensure Sudan’s leaders turn their pledges to action when it comes to upholding a rights-abiding transition.”