Darfur rebels appeal against death sentences
August 5, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Eight Darfur rebels convicted of terrorism offences for attacking the Sudanese capital have appealed against their death sentences, a member of the defence team said on Tuesday.
“We have made one appeal for the eight people from the Khartoum court,” Hadra said. “The rest we will appeal in the coming two days,” he added.
According to the rules of the special courts trying the rebels they have one week to make their only appeal against their sentencing before the execution order is signed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
The International Criminal Court last month moved to indict Bashir for genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
Last week, three courts sentenced 30 accused rebels to death by hanging.
Of the eight, Hadra said the appeal was based on the fact their lawyers were not allowed access to them ahead of the trial. “Also there is no evidence against these men – it’s all based on the testimony of children who said they were tortured,” he said.
Bashir last month pardoned the children Sudan said had taken part in the unprecedented attack on Khartoum by the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The minors remain in custody.
JEM denies having any child soldiers. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in the May attack where rebels were stopped at a bridge over the river Nile leading to the presidential palace and army headquarters.
The defence team of Sudan’s most high-profile rights lawyers say the rules of the special courts contravene the constitution of Sudan with trials allowed to continue even in the absence of the defence lawyers or the accused.
The lawyers had previously petitioned the land’s highest court to stop the trials saying they were unconstitutional but that request was refused.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect.
(Reuters)