ACJPS: Violent dispersal of Khartoum sit-in is a crime against humanity

Director Mossaad Mohamed Ali of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), has described the violent dispersal of the protestors at the sit-in in front of the General Command of the army in Khartoum on June 3 as a crime against humanity.

ACJPS director and prominent human rights defender Mossaad Mohamed Ali said in an interview with Radio Dabanga that the timing and manner in which the sit-in was dispersed and the number of troops involved in the operation must be seen as a crime against humanity, in accordance with the internationally agreed definition.

He said that according to the spokesman of the Transitional Military Council, the decision to disband the sit-in was unanimously taken by the members of the military junta, the leaders of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the security apparatus, the police, the head of the judiciary and the attorney-general.

The ACJPS director said: “All of them must be questioned.” He added that statements by the public prosecutor and the head of the judiciary, in which they denied any link to the massacre, don’t put them out of the scope of the investigation.

Resignations

Mohamed Ali said: "The members of the military junta, the security forces, the public prosecutor, and the head of the judiciary should all have submitted their resignations to the investigation committee that is to determine who is involved in this crime."

Concerning an independent international investigation into the dismantling of the sit-in, Mohamed Ali said that the military junta's adherence to power, and the head of the judiciary and the public prosecutor’s adherence to their positions, make it impossible for an Sudanese committee to investigate the crimes and bring justice for the families of the victims.

He stressed that for this reason, the ACJPS demanded since the attacks of June 3 that an indepdent observer mission would investigate and disclose the truth about the dismantling of the sit-in.