Condemned Darfur rebels waiting for appeal since 2008

The head of the defence lawyers’ team of a group of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) members has filed a complaint to the Chief Justice in Khartoum. The team denounced the delayed decision by the Special Court of Appeal on Terrorism.  Muiz Hadra, the spokesman for the defence team, told Radio Dabanga that on 24 August 2008, Kamal El Jazouli, head of the defence team, sent a request for appeal to the Special Court concerning JEM members Abdul Aziz Ushar and others. The rebels were found guilty of involvement in the attack on Khartoum in May 2008, and were sentenced to death in July 2008. According to Hadra, no hearing for the appeal has been agreed on by the former Chief of Justice, or any other judge of a competent court. He added that in this way the sentenced rebels are spending additional years in prison while waiting for the appeal.The defence team considers the delay in the appeal a denial of justice. File photo Related:‘Detainees moved to death row in Sudan’: JEM (16 September 2013) ‘JEM detainees being tortured in Sudan’s Kober prison’: relatives (5 September 2013) ‘Sudan’s Director of Prisons talks tough to hunger strikers’: JEM (1 September 2013) Solidarity for JEM hunger strikers in Sudanese prisons (29 August 2013)