VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #0579 1200859
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300859Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3672
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC 0067

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000579 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DOJ FOR NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION 
DEPT FOR M, P, L, AF, DS, AF/SPG, CA AND S/CT 
DEPT FOR USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV SU
SUBJECT: APRIL 12 SESSION OF GRANVILLE/ABBAS MURDER TRIAL 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  On April 12, 2009, five U.S. Embassy Foreign 
Service National (FSN) employees from the Regional Security Office, 
Political/Economic and Public Affairs sections attended the trial of 
five Sudanese men accused in the January 1, 2008 murders of USAID 
Officer John Granville and FSN driver Abdelrahman Abbas.  The 
defense called two witnesses to testify during this session. 
Although both presented lengthy testimony, neither provided 
information that strengthened the defense arguments.  The first was 
a bank clerk at Omdurman National Bank whose testimony focused on 
the direct deposit of a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) salary to the third 
defendant, Muhanned Osman Mohamed.  If the defense's intent was to 
show that Mohamed was employed by SAF during the January 1, 2008 
murder, then this witness hurt their case because he testified that 
the last SAF deposit to Mohamed's account was his October 2007 
salary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The second witness was a captain employed by the Sudanese 
Military Industrial Corporation who would refused to testify in open 
court.  Only the defendants, their attorney, and the prosecution 
panel were allowed to hear his testimony.  According to a summary 
provided to USAID, the second witness spent the entire session 
presenting  a detailed overview of weapon types and methods of 
ballistic examination, in order to establish his credibility as a 
weapons expert.  According to information gathered later by the FSN 
trial observers, the court session was adjourned before he had an 
opportunity to testify specifically about the evidence presented by 
the prosecution in this case.  The next session is scheduled for 
April 13.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (U) The trial of the five Sudanese men accused of the January 1, 
2008 terrorist murders of USAID Officer John Granville and FSN 
driver Abdelrahman Abbas continued on April 12, 2009.  The 
prosecution was represented by Chair Mohamed Mustafa Musa, Juma Al 
Wakul Al-Asir, Granville family attorney Taha Ibrahim, and Abbas 
family attorney Ismail Abu Sugra.  Deputy Chair Adil Abdelgahani, 
Ahmed Abu Agla, and Jamal Altahir represented the defense. 
 
¶4.  (U) As their first witness for this session, the defense called 
Osman Elimam al-Awad Mohammed, a 34 year-old bank clerk who has been 
employed by the Omdurman National Bank's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) 
Headquarters branch since June 1995.  The bank clerk's testimony 
centered on the means by which SAF officers receive their salary and 
procedures for opening and closing their bank accounts.  The bank 
clerk confirmed that the third defendant, Muhanned Osman Mohamed, 
held an account at the bank and received a SAF direct deposit from 
July to October 2007. His last transaction was an ATM withdrawal on 
December 2, 2007. 
 
¶5.  (U) When cross-examined by the prosecution, the bank clerk 
confirmed he did not know if there were discrepancies or errors in 
SAF's payroll system, but opined that nothing on the bank 
transaction record appeared suspicious to him.  He added that d he 
did not believe there were any discrepancies with this account. 
 
¶6.  (U) The second witness called to testify was Mohammed Abdelgader 
Abdorabo, a 31 year-old captain employed in the Engineering 
Department at the Sudanese Military Industrial Corporation.  When 
called to the stand, the witness informed the judge that he would 
not testify in open court.  Judge al-Badri ordered that the 
courtroom be cleared with the exception of the attorneys and the 
defendants' and victims' family members.  Everyone left, including 
the Embassy trial observers, and waited outside in the courthouse 
lobby.  After approximately two minutes, the defendants' and 
witnesses' family members were observed leaving the courtroom. 
Later they were overheard telling supporters that the judge 
subsequently decided they must leave as well.  The en-camera session 
lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours. 
 
¶7.  (U) USAID obtained an Arabic summary of the witness' testimony. 
FSN trial observers reviewed the summary and noted that the second 
witness did not provide any specific testimony related to this case. 
 As one trial observer noted, "this is a history of the weapons 
industry and ballistic examination procedures, but has nothing to do 
with the ballistic evidence presented in this case nor does it 
contradict the CID ballistics examiner's testimony."  FSN trial 
observers later learned that the witness spent the entire session 
establishing his credibility as a weapons expert, and that the court 
was adjourned before the witness was given an opportunity to testify 
about this specific case. 
 
¶8.  (U) The trial is scheduled to resume on April 13. 
 
FERNANDEZ