The Sudanese regime arrested the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Sudan (CPS), Muhammed Mokhtar Al-Khatib, and a number of party cadres on Wednesday, January 17. This move came in response to the CPS’s call to the Sudanese people to demonstrate against the increase in the price of bread which resulted in mass demonstrations in Khartoum and Omdurman which were violently repressed by the regime.

The front page of the daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Israel, Al Ittihad: “The Sudanese Regime Arrests the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sudan Mokhtar Al-Khatib” published on January 18, the day after the CPS leader’s arrest, and featuring reports and photos of the demonstrations in Sudan.

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) has issued a statement “condemning the arrest of Mokhtar al-Khatib and his courageous comrades, and denouncing the repression of the demonstrators in Sudan [and declaring] our full solidarity with the legitimate struggle of the Sudanese Communists and people to end tyranny and for freedom, dignity and social justice.”

The CPI statement continues: “We also call upon all democratic forces and supporters of freedom and progress in the Middle East, to raise their voices in defense of Comrade Al-Khatib, Siddig Yousef, a member of the [CPS] Political Bureau and other comrades, and to support their just struggle, as well as to pressure the Sudanese regime to release them immediately and respond to their just demands.” The CPI statement concludes: “Hands off the leaders of the Sudanese Communist Party! Long Live International Solidarity!”