Sudanese lawyers file appeal against deportation of rebel leader

A group of Sudanese human rights lawyers have lodged an appeal at the Constitutional Court against the deportation of Ibrahim El Maaz Deng, leading member of the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

The Vice-President of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and six of his colleagues were captured in West Darfur in 2010. They were tried in Khartoum in 2011 by a special Terrorism Court in a process that the JEM branded as unfair. He was released from Kober Prison in Khartoum-North earlier this month.

Deng, originally from southern Sudan, is married to two Sudanese women. They and their children live in Khartoum.

Lawyer Kamal Omar, a member of the group, told Radio Dabanga that the lawyers who filed the petition a the Constitutional Court include Nabil Adib, Saati Ahmed El Haj, Abdelaziz Oshar, and himself.

He said that the deportation order issued by the President Al Bashir did not specify a date for the deportation nor a destination. “We requested the court to cancel the order as it is unconstitutional.”

The JEM leader was stripped of his Sudanese nationality after the independence of South Sudan in July 2011. “He was not given a deadline to adjust his situation which makes him a person with no state at the moment,” Omar said.

The lawyer appealed to the international community to intervene and resolve the problem of Deng “who is in a situation where he has no chance.

“There is a possibility that countries such as America or Germany may provide shelter to him,” he added.