Court in El Fula, West Kordofan rejects case against El Sheikh

The defence team of the Chairman of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) announced that the case against Ibrahim El Sheikh has been rejected by the court of El Fula, West Kordofan, on Sunday. According to a statement issued by the defence team on Monday, the public prosecutor submitted the case file to judge Abdel Wahab Ismail Musa of El Fula court on Sunday, in the presence of defence lawyers Yagoub Abulgasem, El Taher Makki, and Mohamed Hassan Arabi. “The judge, however, rejected the case, stating that the events that led to the detention of El Sheikh took place in En Nahud, the plaintiff is En Nahud branch director of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), and all witnesses are also based in En Nahud.” The SCP chairman was detained on 8 June by security forces in his hometown En Nahud in West Kordofan, on charges of “undermining the Constitution” after he had publicly denounced the widespread attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, under the command of the NISS, on civilians in Darfur and Kordofan. A first hearing of the case against El Sheikh was scheduled for 12 June in the court of En Nahud. The prosecutor, however, said that the file against their client had been taken by the security apparatus, “in order to add new details”. The charges filed against El Sheikh are punishable by the death penalty, and do not allow for the release of the accused on bail. He and the party have been pressured more than once to officially offer their apologies for their criticism of the militias, in return for his release. File photo: The defence team of Ibrahim El Sheikh in En Nahud, 12 June 2014 (Radio Dabanga) Related:Ailing El Sheikh returned to West Kordofan (14 August 2014) Sudanese Congress Party leader moved to Khartoum hospital (12 August 2014) Protests against Sudanese Congress Party head’s detention (12 June 2014)