SUDAN CONDEMNS 12 DARFUR REBELS TO DEATH

a Sudanese court sentenced to death 12 alleged Darfur rebels, bringing to 50 the number condemned to hang over an attack on Khartoum and 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 launched 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. Defence lawyer Adam Bakr slammed the sentences, denounced the special courts as anti-constitutional and vowed to appeal within the seven-day limit.