The urgent statement reads:
"The security forces of the brutal coup d’état authorities arrested today, May 19, 2022, Muhammad Mukhtar Al-Khatib the political secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party as well as Salih Mahmoud, member of the party’s political bureau upon their arrival in Khartoum coming from Juba, South Sudan.
We strongly condemn the unlawful arrests and demand their immediate release.
We urge the international community and human rights organisations to exert maximum pressure on Sudan’s ruling junta for the unconditional and immediate release of all political detainees."
According to AFP correspondents, thousands of protesters on Thursday took to the streets, mainly in Khartoum but also elsewhere, to again call for civilian rule in the latest rally against the October coup led by Burhan.
The pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said security forces fired tear gas "in large quantities" to quell the protests.
Regular mass demonstrations have rocked Sudan since the coup which derailed a fragile political transition set in motion after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Demonstrations have been met by a violent crackdown which has so far killed at least 95 protesters and wounded hundreds of others, according to medics.
In the early morning of May 20, 2022, the authorities released Muhammad Mukhtar Al-Khatib, Political Secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party. and Salih Mahmoud, member of the Political Bureau and the Central Committee of the party.