Sudan’s Supreme Court upholds death penalty for SPLM-N leaders

The National Supreme Court in Khartoum upheld the verdicts of the Blue Nile Criminal Court concerning 63 leaders and members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). The sentence of one rebel leader was changed from life imprisonment to the death penalty.

The Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty, issued in absentia in March 2014, for 17 rebel leaders, among them Malik Agar, chairman of the movement and former elected governor of Blue Nile state, and Yasir Arman, SPLM-N Secretary-General.

“Today, we received a copy of the Supreme Court’s ruling issued on Monday,” El Tijani Hasan, member of the defence team told Dabanga.

 “The verdict of the Court of Appeal with regard to SPLM-N leader Minallah Hussein was changed from life imprisonment to the death penalty,” he said. “He is the only one sentenced to death who was arrested, and is currently held at Kober prison in Khartoum North.”

“The court also upheld the life imprisonment sentences for 45 other SPLM-N members,” the defence lawyer added.

On 5 August, the Court of Appeal in Singa in eastern Sudan, upheld the death penalties in absentia for 17 SPLM-N leaders. The court also ordered the confiscation of SPLM-N properties in El Damazin, capital of Blue Nile state. “All spent between one year and three-and-a-half years in prison before they were tried,” Hasan told Dabanga at the time. “52 SPLM-N members were convicted so far, and 69 were acquitted.”