A Sudanese court on Thursday fined and released 30 South Sudanese secondary‑school students who had been arrested for entering Sudan without visas after sitting for the postponed 2024 Sudanese National Certificate exams, local sources said.
The students, who attend a Sudanese‑curriculum school in Renk, were allowed to cross the Joda border post into Sudan’s White Nile State to take their exams in the town of Al‑Jabalain, according to community leader Abu Bakr Abdullah Ahmed. They were not questioned while the tests were under way, he said, but were detained by police on their journey back to South Sudan.
A magistrate in Al‑Jabalain convicted them of immigration violations and imposed a 100,000‑Sudanese‑pound (about US$90) fine on each, Abdullah added. The students were freed after relatives and members of the Sudanese expatriate community in Renk transferred the money via mobile banking apps.
An official at Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Education, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ministry merely issues examination numbers to foreign candidates who pay the requisite fees and is “not party to any actions taken by security agencies.”
Sudanese authorities have not commented publicly on the arrests.
