Communist Party of Britain leader Robert Griffiths has written to Sudan’s embassy to protest at the arrest of two leading members of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP).

Central committee members Fathi Elfadl, the official SCP spokesman, and Taj Alsir Othman Babu are the latest to be rounded up by Khartoum’s security forces following huge communist-organised demonstrations against the government’s austerity budget.

They were nabbed on Monday night and taken to an unknown location. Their families have heard nothing since. Both men are in their seventies with serious medical conditions.