VZCZCXRO6592
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1284/01 2351253
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221253Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1701
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

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. 
 
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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." 
 
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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. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶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