Sudanese community condoles doctor’s killing during protest

Dr Salah Mudathir Al Sanhouri, 34, was killed on Friday during peaceful protests against lifting subsides on fuel which raised anger among Sudanese.

The victim’s cousin told Khaleej Times that Sudanese people in both Sudan and the UAE were in a state of shock over the death of Dr Salah, who grew up in Abu Dhabi.

A friend of the victim’s father, who is well known in Abu Dhabi due to his excellent disposition and good relationship, said he knew the victim’s father who worked for the UAE Armed Forces (defense) and who was still living in the Tourist Club area.

Many Sudanese women also know his mother, Hanan Salah Sayed Taha, who owns a tailor shop and would spend her day embroidering Sudanese women’s national dresses in her shop Ulla and Abeer shop located in the Tourist Club area.

Acquaintances said the family struggled to pay for their son’s school and to educate him outside the UAE until he graduated and became a qualified pharmacist and started serving the people. They said he was an obedient son and had full spirit of taking care of his family.

His cousin said that we never thought that this would happen to him. His family was very proud of him and he was so ambitious. Nobody could ever imagine that he would be killed in such a way and the only justification is that he expressed his views boldly and although he was brought up in the UAE, he empathised with the needy people of his homeland.

He said those who killed Salah never knew how hard his father, Mudathir, worked in Abu Dhabi as he was working as a soldier in the Al Nahyan Camp .

“Nobody could feel the pain that we felt when we learnt how he was awfully murdered in Burri. The Sudanese community came together and asked the government to investigate his death and penalise those who killed him.”

After he was shot in the chest, he was taken to a police clinic where he was declared brought dead. He was buried in Burri itself and his funeral was attended by over one thousand people. His mother and father left for Burri on Friday after hearing the shocking news

His mother said that the last words written by her son on his Facebook page were words of encouragement to his community reminding and urging them to join the revolution. He called the fateful Friday as the “Martyrs’ Friday” and after that he went out to participate in the peaceful protests.

Sources said that the man who allegedly shot Salah was a medical cadre who graduated from Sudan University and presently held the rank of a lieutenant with the security, however the government is still investigating the matter. -news@khaleejtimes.com