Sudan: Academics, broadcasters arrested in Khartoum

KHARTOUM (AA) - Security forces in Sudan arrested a group of academics and broadcasters in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, according to a Sudanese media association.

The arrests came before a protest called by the opposition Sudanese Professionals Association in front of the Information Ministry in Khartoum for media freedom, the non-governmental association said in a statement.

The broadcasters Abu Bakr Abdeen, Wael Mohamed al-Hassan, and Aziza Abdul Karim were among those arrested, it added, without providing further information.

According to the eyewitnesses, some academics were arrested while leaving the staff club in the Khartoum University for the protests demanding the overthrow of the regime.

Meanwhile, social media activists said security forces arrested 16 academics.

There was no comment from Sudanese authorities on the arrests till 1500 GMT.

Sudan has been rocked by popular protests since mid-December, with demonstrators decrying President Omer al-Bashir’s failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes.

A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of some three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.