Families of September 2013 protest victims refuse Sudan Govt. compensation

The lawyer of September martyrs, Mutasim Haj Ahmed Osman has met with 18 family members of the martyrs of the September 2013 demonstrations in El Doroshab area in Khartoum to make sure they have not received any public or a special committee proposed by the government for compensation for the families of the victims.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Osman said that 18 victim families have gathered and acknowledged in front of him that they have never met the Minister of Justice nor any other Committee, nor did they agree to accept the $5,000 compensation proposed by the government.

A memorandum is to be submitted to the Minister of Justice on Tuesday with a copy to the United Nations envoy for human rights, including a list of the victims, demanding a transparent investigation into the circumstances of the death of the victims, those who were shot, to determine who must be held responsible, and to bring the perpetrators to a fair trial.

He pointed that the amount of compensation proposed by the government is not commensurate with the 100-camel blood money set by scholars.

Osman hinted at the possibility of transferring the prosecution to the African Union or the United Nations Commission levels.

He added that before any escalation at the beginning, the case is related to the will and desire of the government to hold such a transparent investigation and bring the perpetrators to trial.

In early December 2013, the National Consensus Forces (NCF, an alliance of opposition parties) formed the solidarity committee with the aim of providing mental, legal, and material support to the families of demonstrators killed in the country.

According to the NCF, about 300 protesters were killed or disappeared, and more than 1,000 people were injured, during the demonstrations that erupted in the last week of September 2013, ostensibly in protest against the government’s removal of fuel subsidies and resulting price hikes.