Trial of Sudan’s opposition party members delayed

October 4, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Trial of four members from the opposition Reform Now Movement (RNM) and three other defendants on Sunday has been postponed due to abrupt disappearance of the accuser and the police investigator from the courtroom.

RNM chairman in Khartoum state Khaled Nouri, his deputy Ja’afar al-Sadiq, politburo member Sami Abdul-Wahab and Nagi Imam who is charge of students and youths sector in the party were arrested while addressing a gathering in Karkar Bus Station in Khartoum last on September 3rd.

They were accused of disturbing the public peace and being charged with violating articles 69 and 77 of the Penal Code, punishable by imprisonment, fine and/or lashing.

The head of the defence team Ali Ahmed al-Sayed told Sudan Tribune that the judge announced the delay of the trial session to October 20 th saying the police investigator was sick.

He stressed that the accuser had disappeared in a weird way from the courtroom during the session, saying the judge preferred to postpone the trial due to the large crowd inside the courtroom and to take additional security measures in the next session.

RNM leading figure, Mahmoud Zahir al-Jamal, told Sudan Tribune that the chairman of the Just Peace Forum (JPF), al-Tayeb Mustafa, besides the RNM leader Ghazi al-Attabani and two of his deputies Hassan Rizg and Kamal Sayed as well as delegates from several political forces and rights groups were among the attendees of the trial session.

He pointed that the accuser, al-Baloula Fadlallah, had disappeared from the courtroom in a mysterious way, saying the police investigator was also absent when the judge was the reading the charges against the defendants.

RNM was established as an offshoot from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in late 2013 after a memorandum submitted by prominent NCP leaders protesting the killing of dozens of protesters in the September 2013 demonstrations against lifting fuel subsidies.

(ST)