Sudan releases 200 army personnel prisoners
July 26, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese defence minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein announced on Saturday that 200 army personnel prisoners, who had spent a lengthy stint behind bars, would be released.
He pointed the released army personnel were convicted in personal cases which doesn’t harm or adversely impact the course of justice, saying their release coincides with Eid al-Fitr.
However, the spokesperson did not elaborate on the nature of the charges which were dropped from the army personnel who are included in the amnesty decision.
Several regular forces personnel are facing charges of looting and killing in Darfur. There were also reports that several military commanders have been detained for refusing to carry out orders to launch attacks on rebel areas in Darfur and South Kordofan but did not confirm or deny these reports.
Earlier this month, authorities in South Darfur state detained 9 recruits of the paramilitary force Popular Defence Forces (PDF) for involvement in the killing of the commissioner of Katilla locality, Abdallah Yassen.
The governor of South Darfur state, Adam Jar al-Nabi, said results of the preliminary investigations pointed that nine PDF recruits were involved in the murder of the commissioner.
The National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) last year released 13 of its officers who were who were sentenced to jail over their alleged role in a foiled coup attempt. The most prominent among them was the former NISS director, Salah Gosh.
(ST)