Sudan summons Canada’s top diplomat to protest FM statements on amputation ruling
March 7, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the Canadian charge d’affaires in Khartoum Dominique Rossetti to protest a statement by Ottawa which condemned the ruling against a man convicted of a 2006 highway robbery.
Last month 30-year old Adam al-Muthna was subjected to amputation of his right hand and left foot by doctors at al-Ribat hospital after the constitutional court affirmed the sentence imposed by judges in lower courts.
The Canadian foreign minister John Baird issued a statement this month calling the sentence “a barbaric expression of Shar’ia law, as cruel and inhumane punishments that are completely at odds with international norms”.
“Sudan, a country with a terrible human rights record, has sunk to new depths of cruelty, having carried out amputations on a man convicted of a criminal offence” he said.
According to Sudan’s official news agency (SUNA) the foreign ministry told Rossetti that this statement is a blatant and unacceptable interference in the country’s internal affairs and its judicial rulings.
The Sudanese Penal Code provides cross amputation as a penalty for armed robbery when it results in grievous injury or involves theft of property with a value exceeding SDG 1,500 or about $340.
However there have been very few cases in Sudan’s history when this form of punishment was actually implemented.
France and several human right groups lambasted the court order and called for reforming Sudanese laws.
(ST)