On May 5, 2021, joint forces attacked the peaceful protestors to break up the sit-in in Al-Adiyah locality, west of the city of Al-Fula, in West Kordofan state. The Sudanese Human Rights Group (Huqooq) monitored the violations that resulted in the death of a civilian and various injured with tear gas and live ammunition.
The incident dates back to December 20, 2020, when citizens of Al-Adiyah Zakaria staged a sit-in in Freedom Square after continuous complaints about the lack of basic services, to demand the basic rights represented in the following services:
- Rehabilitation of hospitals and health services,
- electrical supply,
- water supply,
- road rehabilitation,
- Structuring the Freedom and Change Coordination based on the components contained in the constitutional document.
At one o’clock in the morning, government forces wearing police uniforms belonging to the emergency unit, according to eyewitnesses, raided the sit-in area and beat all those present with sticks and batons, resulting in the following injuries:
- Suleiman Ahmed Suleiman (27) years old – Struck with buttstock of rifle in the head,
- Jibril Salem Muhamad (20) – Struck with electric baton to the leg,
- Youssef Abbas Mohammed (25) – Struck with electric baton to the head
The sit-in tents, chairs, and other belongings were burned during the sit-in dispersal with a flammable substance, and the police refused to record reports of the injured, according to the testimonies of the injured.
Then, as an expression of their rejection to the attack, the citizens of the city of Al-Adiyah Zakaria staged a sit-in in front of the house of the locality executive director and the head of the security committee on the same day and demanded that the governor of the state (Hamad Abdul Rahman Saleh) come and form an independent investigation committee to investigate the dispersal of the sit-in and bring the perpetrators to a fair trial.
This was responded to by mobilizing more joint government forces at exactly two o’clock in the afternoon, as 7 cars heavily armed with heavy weapons and tear gas and a civilian vehicle (Buffalo) carrying the Public Prosecutor (Walid Al-Alam) belonging to the Prosecution office of the city of Al-Fula; The capital of West Kordofan State.
The Public Prosecutor ordered an officer with the rank of captain to disperse the protesters by force. The forces consisting of seven military vehicles used excessive force to disperse the citizens with live ammunition and tear gas, which resulted in the death of the citizen:
- Howayda Hassan Omar, suffocated with tear gas
Two civilians were wounded by live ammunition:
- Ezzedine Haroun Bakhit, 16 years old, was shot in the pelvic area
- Abdel Nasser Ali Mohamed Ali, 22 years old, was shot in the leg
Then a force belonging to the Rapid Support forces, led by lieutenant colonel (AlTaj), launched campaigns of arrests, targeting citizens, including activists and members of resistance committees, including:
| Number | Name | Age | Marital Status | Occupation |
| 1 | Mohamed Ahmed Adam Abdulla | 25 | ||
| 2 | Mohamed Al-Kheir Ahmed Madani | 34 | Single | Employee |
| 3 | Mohamed Eisa Mohamed Dahiya | 22 | Single | Student |
| 4 | Assad Abdulla Hussien | 31 | Single | Freelance |
| 5 | Adam Eisa Mohamed Dahiya | 19 | Single | Student |
| 6 | Omar Mohamed Al-Ameen | 20 | Single | Student |
| 7 | Abdulraoof Sulieman Fadil | 19 | Single | Student |
| 8 | Ibrahim Khojali | 54 | Married | Freelance |
| 9 | Wael Yousif Ibrahim | 17 | Single | Student |
| 10 | Suleiman Mohamed Suleiman | 17 | Single | Student |
| 11 | Mohamed Jafaar | 16 | Single | Student |
| 12 | Ayoub Abshar Kuku | 48 | Married | Freelance |
| 13 | Jibril Salem Mohamed Suleiman | 19 | Single | Freelance |
| 14 | ElGizouli Altayeb Mirghani | 26 | Single | Student |
| 15 | Saad Al Sheikh Ismail | 19 | Single | Freelance |
| 16 | Ahmed Hassan Alnoor | 45 | Married | Freelance |
| 17 | Othman Ahmed Alnoor | 35 | Married | Employee |
| 18 | Hassan Abdulla Sulieman | 19 | Single | Freelance |
| 19 | Mohamed Hassan Hamed | 25 | Single | Student |
| 20 | Fayiz Yihya Dawood | 35 | Single | Freelance |
| 21 | Abdel Taki Hamed Norain | 19 | Single | Freelance |
| 22 | AlBori AlNair Hassan | 18 | Single | Student |
| 23 | Hamed Kamal | 18 | Single | Freelance |
| 24 | Abu Al Qasim Ahmed | 25 | Single | Freelance |
| 25 | Mohamed Yaseen Sulieman | 46 | Married | Freelance |
| 26 | Eisa Fadel Abdulla | 49 | Married | Freelance |
| 27 | Haroon Adam Ismail | 36 | Married | Freelance |
| 28 | Ruqaiyah Salam Adam | 45 | Married | Teacher |
| 29 | Halimah Abker | 46 | Married | Freelance |
They were tried according to the emergency law, and all detainees are imprisoned in Al-Fula prison.
The Sudanese Human Rights Group holds the Security Committee headed by the Governor of West Kordofan State responsible for dispersing two sit-ins in Al-Adiyah Zakaria, the first in Freedom Square and the second in front of the Executive Director’s house, and stresses that the right of peaceful assembly is guaranteed in the constitutional document and international conventions that the state must implement and protect.
The Sudanese Human Rights Group (Huqooq) demands:
- West Kordofan state government to fully implement the demands of the peaceful protesters.
- West Kordofan state government to conduct an investigation into the violations that accompanied the dispersal of the two sit-ins
- West Kordofan state government to release the detainees.
- West Kordofan state government to guarantee freedom of expression and the protection of peaceful protesters in accordance with what was stated in the constitutional document of the transitional government.
- The transitional government should implement institutional reforms in line with human rights standards and train forces, and should not resort to force except as the situation requires, while restricting it to a minimum, as stipulated in the basic principles of law enforcement.
A video showing the attack on citizens:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-kR47308i1aL8KwVuq67wWMnJkxt-6JG/view?usp=sharing
The pictures below show the arrests and the sit-in dispersal:
