大象传媒

The prominent Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka has described being beaten, verbally abused and having half his dreadlocks cut off in prison by guards who he says wanted to show him "we can do anything to you".

He and nine other artists were sentenced to two months in prison for "causing a public nuisance", but the beating stopped and all were set free after an international campaign for their release. He told the 大象传媒 that he had been jailed because of a backlash from members of the old regime who refused to cede power to the new government.

Now, after his experience in prison, Hajooj Kuka is calling for the authorities to look at prison reform and training for prison guards:

"The jail still operates the same way as under the old military dictatorship. Nothing changed for them... They were like: 'how do we operate otherwise? How do we get information out of people? How do we control people?' And I started telling them, 'no, there are other ways to do that'."

(Photo: Hajooj Kuka and fellow prisoners celebrate their release. Courtesy of Hajooj Kuka)

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