[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [press release] the Sudanese government on Monday to immediately release peaceful protesters from detention or grant them full due process.

The demonstrators were arrested while protesting Sudan’s 2018 budget, which triples the US dollar exchange rate of Sudan’s currency and increases prices.

Authorities beat protesters, used tear gas, and arbitrarily detained hundreds of protesters, according to HRW.

Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said,

Sudanese security forces are using violence to disperse demonstrators, and have arrested dozens of people, violating the right to freedom of assembly and expression. The Government of Sudan must uphold the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly and initiate an impartial and independent investigation into the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators.

HRW is also worried about the authorities subjecting prisoners to torture.

HRW reports that this is not the first instance of the Sudanese government subjecting peaceful protesters to violence and arbitrary detention.