SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: March 30, 2026

Attack Types: Imprisonment

Institution(s):Kordofan University

Region & Country:Northern Africa | Sudan

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On March 30, 2026, Sudanese security forces arrested eleven lecturers from Kordofan University during a nationwide strike protesting deteriorating salaries.

Coordinated by the Sudanese University Professors Committee (LAJSO), the strike began on March 29 and reportedly achieved near-total participation across more than 30 public universities. The action followed years of demands for a revised salary structure.

Security forces detained 11 professors from the University of Kordofan for taking part in the strike and organizing a protest vigil, including Dr. Abdul Nasser Abdul Rahim, Dr. Obaidullah Ahmed Al-Hajj, Dr. Hamza Adam Youssef, Dr. Al-Fatih Al-Siddiq Abdul Faraj, Dr. Mujtaba Muhammad Salam, Dr. Al-Zein Musa Juma, Othman Ahmed Khamis, Dr. Omar Al-Shafi Ahmed, Dr. Muhammad Mahdi Muhammad Ali, Dr. Al-Sadiq Al-Qasim Farhana, and Dr. Qasim Ahmed Hamed. LAJSO condemned the arrests, defending the actions as a legitimate exercise of the right to strike.

Police also detained faculty from University of the Holy Quran and Islamic Sciences University (see report) and Bakht Al-Rida University (see report).

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the arrest and detention of academics in apparent retaliation for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly — conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and undermine democratic society generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.darfur24.com/en/2026/04/01/professors-arrested-in-north-kordofan-amid-ongoing-university-strike/
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-professors-strike-enters-third-day-as-more-arrests-reported
https://3ayin.com/strike-4-/
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260331220628441