Sudan Supreme Court overturns student’s death penalty

The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of Darfuri student Mohamed Abdallah Baggari for manslaughter and abolished the death penalty to which he was sentenced in November 2015.

Baggari is now convicted for 'nearly willful' manslaughter and sentenced to five years imprisonment and paying SDG40,000 ($6,106) in blood money to the relatives of student Mohamed Awadelkarim. The Bahri Court of Appeal announced the decision by the Supreme Court on Thursday, based on the appeal Baggari's lawyer filed approximately four months ago.

Lawyer Adam Abakar informed Radio Dabanga about the conviction. Baggari will be handed to Kober prison, he said.

The Khartoum Bahri Criminal Court sentenced student Mohamed Abdallah Baggari to death last July after convicting him of murdering a senior member of the Islamist student wing at the Sharg El Nil College campus in Khartoum North.

Baggari was initially sentenced to five years' imprisonment for manslaughter last November, following a deadly clash at the campus on 29 April 2015. Militant National Congress Party students attacked a meeting of the Darfur Student Association. After the clash, a senior member of the Islamist student wing of the ruling NCP, Mohamed Awadelkarim, was found dead on the campus.

Lawyers' and students' associations, the African Centre for Peace and Justice Studies, and political parties have rejected the death sentence of Baggari and called for a fair trial.