12 rebels condemned to death
2008-08-20 21:45
Khartoum - A Sudanese court sentenced to death 12 alleged Darfur rebels on Wednesday, bringing the number condemned to hang over an attack on Khartoum to 50, defying criticism from Amnesty International.
A special court in the capital's twin city of Omdurman found 12 presumed members of the Justice and Equality Movement - the Darfur rebel group that carried out the assault in May - guilty under criminal and counter-terror law.
Judge Hafez Ahmed Abdallah ordered the release of four other suspects who had been on trial and transferred the cases of four others to juvenile courts, declaring that they were under the age of 18.
On Monday, Amnesty International denounced trials in Sudan, in which 38 people had up to that point been sentenced to death over the May 10 attack on Khartoum, and accused the government of holding hundreds without charge.
The London-based human rights group called on Sudan to make public the whereabouts of all those held over the attack that left 222 people dead.