By RFIPalled on 26-01-2019Modified on 26-01-2019 at 13:37

In Sudan, the pressure against President Omar al-Bashir is not weakening. New events are planned this Saturday, January 26, at the call of the Association of Sudanese professionals (APS). Despite the repression, the protesters continue to demand the resignation of the head of state. Since December 19, at least 40 of them have been killed, according to human rights organizations. Authorities speak, they, about thirty dead. However, protesters are not the only ones to bear the brunt of this crackdown.

Political leaders, lawyers, journalists and even doctors are in the crosshairs of the Sudanese security services, as many trades represented by the Sudanese Professionals Association, at the head of the protest movement against President Omar el -Béchir.

These professions are directly targeted by the ongoing crackdown. Human rights organizations denounce violence, arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions.

Among the many cases documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and three other organizations ( African Center for Justice and Peace Studies , the International Refugee Rights Initiative and the Al Khatim Adlan Center for Illumination and Human Development ), that of, for example, Dr. Alfatih Omer Elsid. He was arrested in early January after announcing that his private hospital would provide free medical care to injured protesters. HRW also cites the case of Dr. Alaa Nugdalllah, head of the Sudanese Surgeons' Association, arrested in mid-January at his office in Khartoum.

The arrests do not spare the media professionals either. According to the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies, five journalists are being held incommunicado, without lawyers or contact with their relatives. In question, according to the organization based in the United States, their coverage of anti-government protests.

The pressure against journalists does not stop there. The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies denounces intimidations, particularly by the intelligence services. The organization accuses them of dissuading foreign media in Sudan from inviting experts to speak out about protests without prior permission.

Weight support for the protesters

Imam al-Sadek al-Mahdi, the main opposition leader , said on Friday he supported the protest movement demanding the departure of President Omar al-Bashir, addressing his supporters in Omdurman. Joined by RFI, Mohamad Lasbat, spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals' Association, comments on these statements.

" The speech on Friday by Imam al-Sadek al-Mahdi, leader of the al-Ummah party and the last democratically elected head of government in the country, announces his personal support for the APS, the call that he has launched his faithful to participate in the demonstrations for freedom and change, provides us with important moral support. This support adds to the dynamism of the Sudanese street, as protests enter their sixth week, "he said.

" It is true that Sadek al-Mahdi and the Ummah party are members of the alliance Nida 'al Soudane who signed the declaration of" freedom and change "but before, the Ummah party made its declarations through its leaders and not through his leader who has national and regional weight. We do not care about the political agenda of the signatory parties to this statement. What matters to us is that we all agree on the need to bring down the regime and install the democratic alternative , "he added.

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