Sudan arrests local footballer for perceived anti-government celebration
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April 1, 2011 (Al-QADARIF) – A Sudanese football player has been
arrested by security authorities in the country’s eastern state of
Al-Qadarif for celebrating a goal he scored in a local match by
lifting a banner saying “down Inqaz,” in reference to the name of the
team he scored against, but unfortunately for him the name also
happened to refer the government of President Al-Bashir.
Agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)
on Thursday swiftly moved to arrest Anas Abdullah, a footballer who
plays for Al-Shabab Club in Al-Galabat locality in Al-Qadarif state,
shortly after the end of a football match in which he lifted a banner
saying “down Inqaz” in celebration of a goal he scored against a local
team bearing the same name.
The trouble for the player was that the word Inqaz, which translates
into salvation, is also commonly used in Sudan to refer to the regime
of President Al-Bashir which used the name as its original alias when
it seized power in a military coup in 1989. However, Al-Bashir’s
regime later re-named itself the National Congress Party (NCP).
The footballer Anas reported that NISS agents insisted during his
interrogation that he means down to Al-Inqaz government and not to the
team he scored against. He said they asked him not to leave the state
and report to the NISS local office on Sunday.
Al-Qadarif state has been embroiled in controversy since the NCP
appointed as state governor Karam Allah Abbas who is accused of
applying a “Talibanic” version of Shari’ah Islamic laws in the state.
Karam Allah stepped up the implementation of the so-called “chastity
law,” sparking a popular outrage when a large number of young girls
were beaten and arrested in the state’s local market in July 2010
before facing trial under the charge of “indecent dressing.”
It was during a speech in Al-Qadarif state last year that President
Al-Bashir announced that north Sudan would transform into “an Islamic
state” following the secession of south Sudan which voted for
independence in a referendum held last January.
President Al-Bashir’s government has been facing growing dissent from
youth groups disgruntled by worsening economic conditions and rising
unemployment.
The government recently installed measures preventing peaceful
demonstrations and announced it had unleashed “cyber-Jihadists” to
wage a counter campaign against anti-government youth using the
internet to stage a popular uprising inspired by current events in the
Middle East.
(ST)
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