African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(9 February 2023) Africa Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) calls on Sudanese authorities to overturn the sentence of amputation, order for a retrial of the convicts and guarantee the right to fair trial.
On 31 January 2023, the Alfth criminal court in Omdurman, Khartoum State headed by Judge Amir Ibrahim Bashir sentenced three Sudanese men to amputation of the right hand from the joint after he found them guilty of capital theft under Article 170 of the Sudanese Penal Code, 1991. The judge further sentenced the men to three years imprisonment for violating article 182 (criminal mischief) of the Sudanese Penal Code and also ordered them to pay 2,000,000 Sudanese Pounds (an equivalent of USD 3,500) as compensation to the complainant. The pseudo names of the men are:
- Ahmed, 22-years-old from Square 59 in Althura neighborhood in Omdurman
- Hassan, 26-years-old from Square 59 in Althura neighborhood
- Noor, 24-years-old from Square 14 in Althura neighborhood
ACJPS has been reliably informed that the trial process of the three men was tainted with several irregularities such as trial without legal representation, failure of the court to explain to the accused the gravity and penalty of the offenses and the reliance of court on the confessions as the only evidence to convict the accused. The men have been transferred to Kober federal prison in Khartoum where they will serve their sentence.
On 2 October 2022, the three men were arrested by police alongside other suspects. They were accused of stealing 52 gas cylinders in July 2021 while the other suspects were accused of receiving stolen money under article 181 of the Sudanese Penal Code, 1991. The fourth and fifth convicts were sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of 1,000,000 SP (an equivalent of USD 1,750) while the sixth convict was sentenced to a fine of 1,000,000 SP (an equivalent of USD 1750).
Amputation was incorporated as a form of corporal punishment through the 1983 September laws that introduced Islamic reforms. However, as a state party to international and regional treaties that prohibit torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, amputations as a form of state-sanctioned torture are a breach of Sudan’s human rights obligations.
ACJPS condemns the amputation sentence and calls on Sudanese authorities to:
- Commute these and all corporal punishment sentences;
- Uphold the right of the accused to receive a fair trial and have adequate legal representation in accordance with Sudanese and international law;
- Immediately stop imposing amputations and all other forms of corporal punishment, such as stoning and flogging, and bring Sudanese laws in line with Sudan’s international law commitments to prohibit torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Background
In July 2020, the Transitional Government announced significant reforms to Sudan’s Criminal Act including the repealing of provisions providing the punishment of flogging. This is a great step towards meeting state obligation to adopt legislative measures prohibiting torture. However, provisions prescribing the punishment of amputation remain. In its concluding observations to Sudan’s fifth periodic report, the UN Human Rights Committee found that amputation under the Criminal Act constitute gross breaches of the prohibition of torture (article 7 of the ICCPR). The Human Rights Committee urged Sudan to repeal these provisions.
In a Curtis Francis Doebbler v Sudan, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that there is no right for “the government of a country to apply physical violence to individuals for offences. Such a right would be tantamount to sanctioning State sponsored torture under the [African] Charter.”
ACJPS also documented a few cases of amputation penalties being handed down by the Sudanese Courts. In June 2021, a Sudanese man was sentenced to cross amputation for committing armed robbery. In 2015, a judge at Jebel Awliya Criminal Court convicted a 26-year-old Sudanese man to amputation of his right hand in Khartoum for the theft of a laptop computer. The accused was convicted and sentenced to the amputation without legal representation in breach of Sudanese and international fair trial and human rights standards. On 12 April 2015, El Geneina Criminal Court in West Darfur sentenced three men from the Masalit ethnic group in Darfur to the amputation of their right hands from the wrist for Capital Theft. The three men, who did not have legal representation in court, were found guilty of stealing 56,000 Sudanese Pounds (approximately $9,400). In April 2013, the El-Fashir criminal court in North Darfur sentenced three men to amputation of the right hand from the wrist during a trial that failed to meet the most basic fair trial standards. The amputation was later overturned by the North Darfur Appeal court.
