Sudanese court convicts former SPLM-N officer of spying for South Sudan

November 20, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese court on Sunday has handed one-year prison sentence to an ex-officer from the rebel Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) after being convicted of spying for South Sudan.

On Sunday, the Khartoum North court judge Osama Ahmed Abdalla convicted the defendant of spying for violating article “53” of the Criminal Code, saying the prosecution presented coherent and strong evidence against the defendant.

He pointed the prosecution witnesses proved that the defendant has conveyed military information about the Sudanese army in El Meiram area, South Kordofan to the ruling SPLA party in South Sudan.

The judge added the defendant also, in collaboration with two others, handed over a government source to the SPLA, saying the source was assassinated by the latter.

For his part, the defence lawyer demanded a reduced sentence, saying the accused has already spent more than a year in jail before he was brought to court.

It is noteworthy that defendant had denied the spying charges, saying he neither passed any information to the SPLA nor has he handed over any government source to South Sudan’s government.

South Kordofan and neighbouring Blue Nile state have been the scene of violent conflict between the SPLM-N and Sudanese army since 2011.

(ST)