Sudan coup trial delayed, lawyers accuse police

December 17, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The trial of 30 Sudanese opposition figures accused of a coup attempt was postponed until the end of the month and defence lawyers on Monday accused police of setting dogs on defendants’ families.

The trial on Sunday was delayed as one of the defendants, being held in army headquarters away from the main group, said he did not have legal representation, lawyer Muez Hadra said. The other accused are represented by prominent Sudanese lawyers.

Hadra said some families of the accused were denied entry to the court by police who set their dogs on them.

“The police used excessive violence against the families, they used police dogs,” Hadra said. “Some of the women said their toubs (traditional dresses) were torn.

“This is an open court and we have requested a larger court room,” he said, saying the court was too small for the families of all the defendants.

The 30 were arrested in their homes in July and include ex-army, police and security officers as well as prominent opposition politicians. They were accused of plotting political assassinations and to overthrow the government.

The first trial date was postponed on Dec. 2 as leader of the opposition Umma Party for Reform and Renewal Mubarak al-Fadil was released for lack of evidence. National security officials had said he was the coordinator of the plot.

Hadra said they had requested that 71-year-old Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, deputy secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), be freed from jail because the law says anyone over 70 should be released on bail.

He said the decision would be taken on Dec. 30.

U.N. rights observers have expressed concern over the arrests ahead of Sudan’s first democratic elections in more than two decades due by 2009.

Sudan expelled the head of the European and Canadian diplomatic missions in Khartoum for writing to national security enquiring after Hassanein.

(Reuters)