Darfur rebel leader call to save 18 condemned fighters

Minni Minawi, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) has called for a local, regional, and international campaign to save 18 of his affiliates sentenced to death.

In a statement on Friday, Minawi warned the Sudanese government of the consequences should the sentences will be carried out. He considers the verdict as “revenge for the defeats caused by our forces”.

On Thursday, the special Darfur Criminal Court in Khartoum sentenced 18 SLM-MM combatants and allied civilians to death by hanging. They were captured in February last year after armed confrontations between government forces and SLM-MM fighters in Mellit, North Darfur.

The defendants were charged with undermining the constitutional system, stirring-up war against the state, using heavy weapons, stealing and destroying people’s property, and threatening the security situation.

The rebel leader described the trial as “political” and “a humiliation to the Sudanese people”. According to him the verdicts “do not respect the rules of justice and international law for the protection of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention”.

He pointed out that he SLM-MM have released many captured army and paramilitary troops in the past, and have always treated them well.

The defence team will appeal against the ruling. “We will continue litigation until its final stages,” Mahjoub Daoud, one of the defence lawyers told reporters on Thursday.

On 22 September, President Omar Al Bashir announced a general amnesty for all members of the Darfur armed movements on the condition that the leaders of those movements participate in the National Dialogue, launched in Khartoum in October.