DEFENSE LAWYERS, UNMIS SRSG AND OTHERS CRITICIZE GOS TRIALS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001284 DEPT FOR AF/SPG, A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON NSC FOR BPITTMAN AND CHUDSON ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: DEFENSE LAWYERS, UNMIS SRSG AND OTHERS CRITICIZE GOS TRIALS OF FIFTY ALLEGED JEM ATTACKERS ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Sudanese courts have sentenced fifty people to death for participation in the May 10 JEM attacks. Defense lawyers criticized the proceedings as flawed and unconstitutional, and UNMIS SRSG Ashraf Qazi issued a statement questioning the constitutionality of the courts and proceedings. The defense attorneys said the prosecution had committed grievous violations of judicial norms by forcing adolescents to testify, denying access to legal counsel before the court date, and denying proper medQQ care to the condemned, some of whom are mentally ill. A journalist released after a two-month detention described his torture and further GOS attempts to silence him. A representative for JEM vowed that JEM will respond to these GOS actions. End Summary. -------------- 50 SENTENCED TO DEATH WITHOUT PROPER COUNSEL -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Sudanese lawyers acting on behalf of suspects charged in the May 10 JEM attack on Omdurman confirmed to poloff on August 21 that Sudanese courts had sentenced 12 more suspects to death August 20, in addition to the 38 condemned the preceding week. Abdelrahman Gasim, Salih Mahmoud Osman and Isa Abdelmoneim, all prominent Darfuri lawyers working pro-bono to defend the suspects, strongly criticized the government's case as based on insufficient evidence and the testimony of children. According to the defense lawyers, the prosecution has relied on boys as young as twelve - many showing symptoms of prolonged use of inhalants - to testify that they were kidnapped from West Darfur by the accused, who then forced them to fight in the May 10 attacks. Lawyers surmise that the young "witnesses" are in actuality street children seized after the attacks, and later participated in the trials in exchange for their release from custody. ¶3. (SBU) According to Gasem and Abdelmoneim, Sudanese authorities have neglected to follow international judicial norms for the trials, denying the accused proper access to defense lawyers. The defense lawyers said that many of the accused were subjected to torture during their detainment (in order to extract admissions of guilt from them). They have also accused Sudanese authorities of denying the accused proper medical care. They said that four of the men already sentenced to death are mentally ill and show signs of developmental disabilities. Gasim estimated that among the 50 who have been condemned to death, no more than 20 are members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who took part in the assault on Khartoum, and the rest are most likely Darfuris who were brought by JEM to Omdurman in May, or Darfuris resident in the capital who were rounded up by security forces in the aftermath of the events. On Wednesday, eight suspects were released; four of them are boys under 18, and Abdelmoneim credited international pressure with forcing the GOS to release some suspects to give the process the appearance of fairness. ¶4. (SBU) The defense lawyers have filed an appeal of the death sentences before the Constitutional Court of Sudan, objecting that the laws under which the suspects are being tried are unconstitutional. "The court is applying laws in contradiction to the Interim National Constitution," said Osman. "These anti-terror procedures were made by the Minister of Justice specifically for the JEM cases, but as a member of the executive branch, the Minister has no right to create laws to try suspects." Lawyers consider they have a strong appeal justified by Sudanese constitutional law, but they do not expect that the constitutional court will accept the appeal, as the court is controlled by judges favorable to the National Congress Party (NCP). ¶5. (SBU) The defense lawyers told poloff that they do not expect the trials to be impartial. However, they were surprised at how hastily the government has pQunced the death sentences, as the Sudanese justice system generally proceeds at a glacial pace. While the lawyers consider executions a "remote possibility," they are prepared for more trials, as the GOS has announced that additional suspects will be brought to trial in the coming weeks. Osman, head defense counsel for the suspects tried at the court in Omdurman, suspects the GOS has pushed for death sentences because it intends to use those found guilty as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with JEM. He added that "those fifty are among the luckiest because they had trials - hundreds of others may have been executed in the days after May 10." -------------- -------------- JEM CALLS SENTENCES UNCONSTITUTIONAL, THREATENS ACTION -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Gibriel Fideil, representative of JEM in London, spoke with KHARTOUM 00001284 002 OF 002 Poloff by phone August 21 and decried the death sentences as detrimental to relations between JEM and the GOS. He noted that Abdel Aziz Nur Ushar, half brother of Khalil Ibrahim, was among those sentenced to death last week. "These death sentences will not help bring peace to Sudan. These men are covered as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, and Sudan has no right to try them." Fideil also echoed the defense lawyers' judgment that the Interim National Constitution does not permit extra-constitutional courts set up to enforce specific laws. Somewhat ominously, Fideil warned that the GOS risked further conflict should they choose to carry out the death sentences, adding, "We will not let them do that." -------------- -------------- VICTIM OF TORTURE, JOURNALIST CONTINUES TO SPEAK OUT -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) With the whereabouts of some Darfuri detainees still unknown, including Abdelillah Widaa (reftel A),one former detainee has described continued harassment from Sudanese authorities. Al Ghali Shegifat, journalist for the independent Rai Al-shaab newspaper and head of the Darfur Journalists Association, met Poloff at the embassy on two separate occasions to describe his sixty-day imprisonment following the May 10 attacks. Shegifat had received numerous warnings in the past year to stop criticizing the GOS and to stop reporting on the crisis in Darfur; his article on April 30, 2008 in Rai al-Shaab, published with his photo beside it, prompted a personal phone call from the Wali of North Darfur, who warned him to stop. ¶8. (SBU) On May 18 armed agents of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrived at his home in Omdurman and arrested Shegifat. Over the next seven days, Shegifat was interrogated by NISS agents and subjected to regular beatings over his body, shackled to a wall and left in stress positions for long hours, punched repeatedly in the face and head, and burned with lit cigarettes. Following his torture, Shegifat was transferred to Kober prison, where he was held in cramped cells with dozens of other Darfuri prisoners. Prior to his release, Shegifat was warned not to continue writing, but since his release he has written two articles for Rai al-Shaab, one criticizing the government for the food shortage in Darfur, and the other examining recent Darfur peace initiatives. He still receives overt threats to his health and safety by telephone, and is regularly followed by a surveillance team. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Ruthlessly efficient in enforcing its wishes, the Sudanese regime is prepared to process as many detainees as possible through its special terrorism courts, without observing international standards such as access to defense counsel. UNMIS SRSG Ashraf Qazi issued a statement criticizing the process following the sentencing of the first 38 alleged attackers, which according to his staff resulted in President Bashir cancelling a planned meeting with Qazi. There is the potential for a blanket commutation of the death sentences, but the regime would look for concessions in return. As the torture and continued harassment of the Darfuri journalist attest, an anxious GOS regime feels threatened even by non-violent opposition. The environment following the July 14 ICC announcement has only increased the sense of the regime that it is increasingly under siege, though operating in crisis mode is standard procedure for this government and often serves to strengthen the hand of hardliners within the regime. ASQUINO