Sudan national assembly approves controversial amendments to army law

July 2, 2013, (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese parliament has finally passed controversial amendments to the 2007 Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) law which will allow for prosecution of civilians in military courts.

These amendments allow military courts to prosecute civilians on several crimes including deserting military service, harboring a fugitive, disclosing military information, using military uniforms, undermining the constitutional order, inciting war against the state, dealing with an enemy state, spying on the state and allowing escape of prisoners of war among others.

The amendments give the Constitutional Court the authority to review the verdicts issued by military courts only if it included death penalty or imprisonment for 10 years or more.

The head of the National Umma Party (NUP) non-mainstream faction Abdallah Masar accused the defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein of putting pressure on the parliamentary subcommittee on foreign affairs, security, and defense to pass the bill in the absence of the Justice Minister and Chief Justice.

Masar stressed that the law contradicts international agreements and it would turn Sudan into a police state which violates human rights.

MP Ghazi Salah Al-Din al-Atabani, a leading ruling National Congress Party (NCP), called for a precise definition of the contexts and contents of the law and warned against its misuse.

“If we asked the simple question: could the law be misused? The answer would definitely be yes,” al-Atabani said.

On Monday, the Sudanese parliament declined to pass the amendments to SAF’s law calling it an overt violation of human rights which imposes further restrictions on civil liberties.

But the defense minister insisted on passing the bill and said that the security situation and the conspiracies being hatched against the country along with the increasing numbers of armed groups necessitated these amendments.

The head of the parliamentary subcommittee on foreign affairs, security and defense Mohamed Al-Hassan al-Amin, expressed concern yesterday about passing the law in its current form and warned that it will impose more restrictions on civilians stressing that the law should be confined to the military personnel only.

But al-Amin changed course today saying that the new law would have a positive impact on SAF pointing to the limited number of MP’s who objected to it.

The PCP MP expressed concern about the defense minister justification for the amendments and described it as unconvincing, adding that while the minister spoke about security and prestige of the state, he never mentioned justice.

MP Hussein added that the Sudanese judiciary despite questions about its performance in recent years is still able to prosecute all cases under the 1991 criminal law.

The minister of defense for his part defended the law and said that rulings of the military courts are subject to inspection and review by the Constitutional Court pointing out that the military judiciary is committed to ensuring that justice controls are in place.

He went on to say that amendments are only intended for civilians who claim military rank and form an army.

“We will not randomly grab civilians from the streets and prosecute them” the defense minister said.

“Show me a single country in the world which does not prosecute civilians who are involved in military action in military courts”, he added.

(ST)