Lawyers: 530 cases referred to Sudan’s Emergency Courts in two weeks

At least 530 people have been prosecuted via the Emergency Courts in Sudan during the first two weeks of March. On Monday, Judge Ashraf Abdelbagi of the Emergency Court in eastern Khartoum, sentenced a woman and her daughter to a month’s suspended prison sentence for attempting to prevent police from arresting her nephew, who was accused of participating in the demonstrations.

The Democratic Lawyers Alliance said in a statement on Monday that the judge convicted the woman and her daughter under article 99 of the Criminal Code and dismissed the other charge against the nephew for lack of evidence.

Emergency Courts

Emergency Courts have been established to deal with cases related to the State of Emergency proclaimed in Sudan.  The number of reported cases prosecuted under the Emergency Law in Khartoum, Nile River state, El Gezira, Red Sea state, and El Gedaref, has risen to 163. In the period from February 28 to March 14, 530 people were accused. According to legal sources, 150 of them were convicted 243 were acquitted. Seven minors were conditionally released into the care of their families, while 137 defendants remain under judicial procedures.

The sentences handed down by the Emergency Courts have ranged from imprisonment for a maximum of five years and a minimum of seven days and fine of SDG 200 ($4.20*), in addition to confiscation and seizures in a number of cases.

* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary widely in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the Market Makers Mechanism-determined daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).