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Sudan Activists Languish in Jail

Behind bars in a Sudanese prison, activists Mohamed Saleh and Ma’ni Mubarak explain their ordeal to Al-Monitor as they serve their one-year sentences, Reem Abbas reports from Medani, Sudan.
An inmate rests his hand on the bars of a prison controlled by the SLA/Mini Minawi in Shangle Tubaya village in north Darfur October 18, 2010. According to the U.N, the prison currently houses four inmates, who share a cell and are given food twice daily. Of the four, some have been jailed for several weeks without having a trial or legal representatives. Picture taken October 18, 2010. REUTERS/UNAMID/Albert Gonzalez Farran/Handout  (SUDAN - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY

MEDANI, Sudan — On June 28, 2011, Mohamed Saleh and Ma'ni Mubarak were attending "Breaths," a three-day cultural forum organized by students at Al-Jazeera University in Medani, 300 kilometers from Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Hailing from Nubia, Mubarak was involved in organizing the section about Nubian heritage and culture, while Saleh attended the performances before leaving in the late afternoon, long before the clashes began.

At about 6 p.m., the students were taking a break before resuming the forum after prayers, when a fight broke out between students from the Islamic Movement and the Democratic Front. The initial scuffle seemed contained, until:

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