Amnesty International on Monday denounced as a ”sham” Sudanese anti-terror trials in which 38 people have been sentenced to death, and accused the government of holding hundreds without charge.
The London-based human rights group called on Sudan to make public the whereabouts of all those held in connection with the May 10 attack on Khartoum that left 222 people dead.
”Sudan’s Anti-Terrorism Special Courts are nothing but a travesty of justice,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty’s Africa deputy director.
”Some of the people sentenced yesterday [Monday] only met their lawyers for the first time during the trial, while several said they suffered torture when they were held incommunicado and that they were forced to confess the crimes.”
A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced to death a top Darfur rebel and seven others, bringing to 38 the number condemned to hang over the unprecedented attack on Khartoum.
According to Amnesty, Sudan is preparing to try a further 109 people in the ”sham courts over the terrorist attack”, and added that a defence lawyer for one of the convicted rebels told it that his request for an inquiry into allegations of torture by his client was rejected by the courts.
”The Sudanese government has the duty to investigate crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice but they must do it in accordance to international law and their own Constitution, which guarantees fair trials,” Hondora said.
”We urge the Sudanese authorities not to execute these men and to review their cases immediately, according to Sudan’s laws.”
Defence lawyers argue that the special courts are unconstitutional and do not guarantee their clients’ legal rights.
The United Nations has also voiced concern over the trials, calling for comprehensive appeal procedures and on Khartoum to abolish capital punishment.
It says that up to 300 000 people have died and more than 2,2-million have fled their homes since the conflict in Darfur erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10 000 have been killed. — Sapa-AFP