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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan sentences 12 to death in Khartoum attack |
| 2008-08-21 |
| A Sudanese anti-terror court condemned 12 men to death on Wednesday for their role in a shock Darfur rebel attack on Khartoum. The men chanted "God is great" and "We welcome death" as the judge passed sentence in the heavily guarded court, bringing the number of men facing death by hanging over the assault to 50. The sentence came a day after defense lawyers failed in their bid to challenge the legality of three controversial special anti-terrorism courts set up to convict people linked to the attack. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds injured when Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched an unprecedented attack on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman in May. The attackers drove across hundreds of miles of desert and scrubland to reach the capital and were only repelled at a bridge just a few kilometers away from the presidential palace. Khartoum set up three anti-terror courts to try people suspected of taking part in the assault or of supporting it. Twenty people appeared in front of Judge Hafiz Ahmed Abdalaha in Omdurman special court on Wednesday. Four were acquitted, another four were referred to child courts and the remaining 12 were sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence came just three days after another eight men, including JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim's half brother Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr, were also condemned to death. |
| Posted by:Fred |