Sudan’s Teachers’ Committee said on Sunday that security authorities in North Kordofan state had detained a teacher and taken him from his home to a security facility.
The committee said Ali al-Zubair was detained on Wednesday and that it believes his detention was linked to his demands for teachers’ rights, including payment of salary arrears and implementation of decisions and directives concerning their working conditions.
The committee did not say whether al-Zubair had been charged with an offence.
The committee called on authorities in North Kordofan to disclose the reasons for his detention and his whereabouts and to release him immediately and unconditionally.
It also held the security authorities responsible for his safety and called for guarantees that he would not be subjected to abuse.
The committee accused authorities of using detention to silence teachers instead of addressing their demands, including low wages, salary arrears and delays in implementing decisions affecting their financial entitlements.
It urged trade unions, rights groups and civil society organisations to support al-Zubair and campaign for his release.
Complaints of teachers being summoned or detained by security authorities had increased in recent months in connection with union activities and demands for better pay and working conditions.
El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, is under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces, while parts of the wider state remain contested amid the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Local officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the teacher’s detention.
Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and severely disrupted public services and the economy.
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