Sudanese court sentences more 8 rebels to death over capital attack

August 17, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced to death eight Darfur rebels who had participated in an attack against the Sudanese government in Khartoum where more than 220 people were killed last May.

Today sentences bring to 38 the number of the rebels condemned to death. Another 20 await a verdict on Wednesday in the same case. Hundreds of Darfurians were arrested after the attack, and it remains unclear how many are behind bars.

The special courts charged the defendants of waging war against the state and the illicit use of weapons. They were sentenced to hang after a trial that began on July 3.

The judges pronounced the verdicts after declaring the rebel guilty under Sudanese criminal and counter-terrorism legislation of involvement in the May attack on Khartoum. He gave them one week to appeal before President Omar Hassan al-Bashir signs the execution order.

Among the sentenced rebels Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr, half brother of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim.

Ashr, the head of JEM troops in Eritrea until 2005 and chairman of its intelligence office, was arrested days after the May 10 attack in eastern Sudan while he was trying to cross the border.

Special Sudanese courts last month sentenced 30 alleged Darfur rebels to death over the attack on the capital.

Earlier this month, the UN envoy to Sudan Ashraf Qazi, voiced concern over the legal proceeding in the three special courts because they didn’t observe fair trial guarantees and urged the appeal court to review the death sentences.

Qazi said that the rebels were only given access to lawyers after the beginning of the trials, the concessions were obtained and the defendants had no communication with lawyers and the courts refused to probe allegation of ill treatment.

Jibril Khalil, the brother of the JEM chief and a leading official in the rebel movement told Aljazeera today that this trial is unconstitutional, while Suleiman Sandal, a senior JEM commander in Darfur, vowed revenge if the death sentences against Ashr and others were carried out.

Also, the chief of Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur condemned the sentences terming it as “unfair and criminal” adding they should be treated as Prisoners of War. “Lack of liberty and democratic governance forced these Sudanese citizens to hold arms,” he said.

The lawyers of the defendants also challenged the constitutionality of the anti-terrorist courts. Defence lawyer Kamal Omer dismissed the court as a political entity and charged that the sentences would complicate efforts to find a solution to the five-year conflict in the western region of Darfur.

“We will appeal this decision but our appeal will have no meaning. The Sudanese judge is not independent,” Omer told AFP.

Different Sudanese political parties urged the ruling National Congress Party to release the sentenced rebels as a good will gesture and to invite rebels to attends a national conference on Darfur to end the five years conflict.

The attack on Khartoum was the first time a rebel group had brought their fight to the capital.
The rebels were stopped at bridges over the river Nile a few kilometres (miles) from the presidential palace and army headquarters.

(ST)