Amnesty charged in a 2005 report that minors are "convicted to death" in Sudan...
Amnesty charged in a 2005 report that minors are "convicted to death" in Sudan contrary to four international human rights treaties that prohibit juveniles from being sentenced to death or executed. An IPS investigation was unable to find evidence that
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Amnesty charged in a 2005 report that minors are "convicted to death" in Sudan contrary to four international human rights treaties that prohibit juveniles from being sentenced to death or executed.
An IPS investigation was unable to find evidence that the ultimate penalty has been used on any juvenile in Sudan, including the four named by Amnesty.
That was due to the fact that, as Sudanese officials said, minors may be "sentenced" to death in Sudan, but are not actually killed. Upon appeal, if it is proved they are minors, they are released into the care of their parents or given reduced sentences. Ghazi Suleiman, widely recognised as the godfather of human rights in Sudan, spent much of his career in and out of prison for decrying rights abuses. Still, he defended Sudan's legal code, claiming that Sudan is governed not by Sharia code, but British Common Law, the remnants of colonisation that ended in 1956.
In fact, Sudan's penal code has 185 sections, but only four, dealing with penalties for murder, adultery and theft, are Islamised. "In my lifetime as a professional lawyer, I have not seen a case where a youth is executed," said Ghazi Suleiman. "We don't have Sharia law."
Ghazi Suleiman currently is defending a group of southern Sudanese men on trial for their lives after allegedly instigating a May 2005 riot that left 14 police officers and up to 20 civilians dead. The defendants included three boys under the age of 18, who Ghazi Suleiman said were released into the care of their parents immediately after they were proven to be minors.
An IPS investigation was unable to find evidence that the ultimate penalty has been used on any juvenile in Sudan, including the four named by Amnesty.
That was due to the fact that, as Sudanese officials said, minors may be "sentenced" to death in Sudan, but are not actually killed. Upon appeal, if it is proved they are minors, they are released into the care of their parents or given reduced sentences. Ghazi Suleiman, widely recognised as the godfather of human rights in Sudan, spent much of his career in and out of prison for decrying rights abuses. Still, he defended Sudan's legal code, claiming that Sudan is governed not by Sharia code, but British Common Law, the remnants of colonisation that ended in 1956.
In fact, Sudan's penal code has 185 sections, but only four, dealing with penalties for murder, adultery and theft, are Islamised. "In my lifetime as a professional lawyer, I have not seen a case where a youth is executed," said Ghazi Suleiman. "We don't have Sharia law."
Ghazi Suleiman currently is defending a group of southern Sudanese men on trial for their lives after allegedly instigating a May 2005 riot that left 14 police officers and up to 20 civilians dead. The defendants included three boys under the age of 18, who Ghazi Suleiman said were released into the care of their parents immediately after they were proven to be minors.
— SOURCES
- (Sources: www.mg.co.za, 31/05/2006)
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