UN condemns execution of six Sudanese over policemen killing

January 15, 2010 (GENVA) – The UN human rights body Friday strongly condemned the execution of six Sudanese accused of murdering a number of policemen during clashes in 2005, despite requests by the world body to determine whether fair trials standards were respected.

The six men were sentenced to death in November 2006 for the killing of 13 policemen during riots in Soba Aradi camp for IDPs in southern Khartoum when the Sudanese authorities tried to forcefully relocate them to different areas in May 2005.

Amnesty International denounced the execution, saying the defendants may have been forced to confess to the murders under torture, after the Supreme Court ignored repeated complaints by defence lawyers that the men were tortured and instead twice confirmed the death sentences.

Rupert Colville of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) strongly condemned the execution of the six Sudanese, stressing that under international law, the application of the death penalty can only take place in a very strictly defined set of circumstances.

One of these is that the sentence of death can only be issued after a trial in which minimum standards for fair trial were respected, said Colville during a news briefing held in Geneva on Friday.

He noted that after their conviction and sentencing, the Government’s attention was drawn to various reports that the men had been detained without access to legal counsel for five months following their arrest, and that they confessed to murder under torture.

The UN official disclosed that hours before the execution took place, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Sudan sent an urgent letter to the Government requesting that no execution take place.

“Regrettably, this appeal was ignored,” said Mr. Colville, adding that the latest executions highlight the growing number of executions that have taken place in Sudan in recent times, many of which were carried out after trials which failed to conform to international standards.

(ST)