25.06.2008 - Source: Human Rights Watch

According to HRW, the Anti-Terrorism Special Courts, set up by the government to try individuals accused of participating in the 10 May 2008 attack on the capital by a Darfur rebel group, do not meet minimum international fair trial standards ("End Unfair Trials") [ID 23857]

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28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

At least 23 people known to have been sentenced to death in 2007, 7 people executed; true figures believed to be higher ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23358]

"At least 23 people were known to have been sentenced to death and seven people executed by hanging during 2007.

The true figures were believed to be much higher.

Death sentences continued to be frequently passed after unfair trials in which confessions extracted under torture were used as evidence.

On several occasions defendants were sentenced to death after trials where they had no defence lawyer.

Death sentences continued to be passed on women for adultery but no such sentence was known to have been carried out.

In Darfur, Special Courts and Special Criminal Courts continued to conduct unfair trials. [...]

In South Sudan death sentences were passed on many people who had been tried without defence counsel. However, no one was known to have been judicially executed during 2007.

Sadia Idriss Fadul and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum, both originally from Darfur, were sentenced in February and March respectively to be stoned to death for adultery by the Criminal Court in Managil Province, Gazira State. It was believed that the sentence was commuted.

In November, 10 people originally from Darfur, including al-Tayeb Abdel Aziz, aged 16, and Idris Mohammed al-Sanousi, aged 71, were sentenced to death by the Khartoum Criminal Court for the murder of a newspaper editor, Mohammed Taha.

All 10 retracted confessions which they said were extracted under torture.

The Court refused defence lawyers' requests to order medical examinations.

Two members of military intelligence, Bakhit Mohammed Bakhit and Abdel Malik Abdallah, were executed by hanging in May in Shalla Prison, al-Fasher, Darfur.

They had been tried before the Special Criminal Court on the Events in Darfur in August 2005 and sentenced to death for murder after the death of Adam Idris Mohammed as a result of torture in custody. The head of military intelligence was acquitted."

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28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

Southern Sudan: Many people convicted without defence lawyers; death sentences were passed out in 2007, but no execution known to have been carried out ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23361]

"Partly because of a shortage of lawyers, many people were convicted without defence lawyers.

A number of death sentences were passed but no judicial executions were known to have been carried out.

Mapet Daniel Dut was sentenced to death for murder in October by the Court of Justice in Rumbek.

He reportedly had no defence lawyer.

He later escaped from prison and police detained his brother and father in his place.

Two sisters, who brought them food, were also detained, but released after a few days.

Mapet Daniel Dut was not recaptured and his father remained in detention at the end of the year."

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05.05.2008 - Source: Freedom House

The judiciary is not independent; courts do not meet accepted legal standards ("The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2008") [ID 23573]

"The judiciary is not independent.

The head of the judiciary, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is a government appointee.

Lower courts like the Town Benches and District Courts provide some due process safeguards, but higher courts are subject to political control, and special security and military courts do not apply accepted legal standards.

In response to the International Criminal Court investigation into crimes related to Darfur, the government created the Special Courts for Darfur; their credibility has been challenged by legal experts.[...]

With the signing of the CPA, the government created the National Judicial Service Commission (NJSC) to manage the judicial system; coordinate the relationships between judiciaries at the national, Southern Sudan, and state levels; and oversee the appointment, approval, and dismissal of judges.

However, the NJSC is not independent or free from government pressure."

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23.05.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

Majority of trials in 2006 were unfair ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 20091]

"

Appeal courts and criminal courts in Khartoum acquitted political detainees in some trials. However, in the majority of trials, rights of defence were curtailed or absent, and testimony given under duress was accepted as evidence. Dozens of death sentences were passed, usually after unfair trials in which rights of defence, including the right to be represented by counsel, were not respected. [...]

In Darfur, trials before Specialized Criminal Courts set up in 2003 to try crimes such as banditry failed to meet international fair trial standards. In some cases, the courts admitted as evidence confessions reportedly made under duress and later retracted in court."

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23.05.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

Khartoum: Appeal courts and criminal courts acquitted political detainees in some trials ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 20092]

"

Appeal courts and criminal courts in Khartoum acquitted political detainees in some trials. [...]

• In April the remaining 10 defendants in a trial of Popular Congress members were acquitted after the Special Court in Khartoum North accepted that their confessions were obtained under torture. They had been arrested in September 2004 and charged with an attempted coup.

• In a trial before the Khartoum Criminal Court of 137 residents of Soba Aradi, a settlement of mostly displaced people in Khartoum North, 62 detainees were acquitted in June and August for lack of evidence. They were charged in connection with clashes in May 2005, in which 14 police officers and 30 IDPs were killed, over the proposed relocation of the settlement. Seven defendants were sentenced to death in November."

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06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Standards for fair trials not always met in 2006 ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19260]

"The interim constitution and law provide for fair and prompt trials; however, this was often not respected. Trials in regular courts nominally met international standards of legal protections.

Trials were open to the public at the discretion of the judge. In cases of national security and offenses against the state, trials were usually closed. Juries are not used.

The accused normally have the right to an attorney, and the courts are required to provide free legal counsel for indigent defendants accused of crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment; however, there were reports that defendants frequently did not receive legal counsel and that counsel in some cases could only advise the defendant and not address the court.

There were reports that the government sometimes denied defense counsel access to the courts or did not allow the calling of defense witnesses. For example, in May 2005 an appeals court upheld a judge's 2004 ruling that banned lawyers from representing 28 defendants on trial for allegedly plotting a coup and ordered them to pick new counsel or accept government-appointed lawyers. Thereafter 43 additional persons were charged. Forty-nine out of the 81 defendants were convicted of plotting a coup and sentenced from five to 15 years in prison; the others were released. However, on March 13, a special court in Bahri, Khartoum North, dropped charges against eight of the 49 defendants for lack of evidence. The same court acquitted an additional 10 defendants on April 26 because their confessions had been obtained under torture by NISS officers.

According to the interim constitution and law, there is a presumption of innocence; however, this was not respected in practice. Defendants have a right to appeal, except in cases of military trials where the decision is final and there is no appeal.

Military trials, which sometimes were secret and brief, did not provide procedural safeguards. For example, the defendant's attorney could advise the defendant but could not address the court. Witnesses may be permitted to appear at military trials. "

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06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Southern Sudan: Where civil authorities and institutions did not operate in 2006, standards for fair trials were not met ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19261]

"In parts of the south and the Nuba Mountains, where civil authorities and institutions did not operate, there were no effective judicial procedures beyond customary courts. According to credible reports, military units in those areas summarily tried and punished those accused of crimes, especially for offenses against civil order."

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20.04.2006 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Limitations regarding legal representation ("10th European Country of Origin Infomation Seminar Budapest, 1 - 2 December 2005: Final Report on Sudan") [#49770],  [ID 18917]

"Regarding legal representation, there are other limitations as well – poverty and the lack of a functioning legal aid system. Legal aid is only available for defendants who face the death penalty and they are not free to choose their lawyer. Lawyers are not present during police interrogations. Usually, they don’t get access to police files, so their representation of cases in courts turns out to be very difficult."

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2006 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Sudanese Bar Association strictly controlled by government ("10th European Country of Origin Infomation Seminar Budapest, 1 - 2 December 2005: Final Report on Sudan") [#49770],  [ID 18918]

"After the coup, the new regime started to control the Sudanese Bar Association which formerly was quite powerful, with well educated lawyers. Today, the Bar Association is strictly controlled by the government. Legal professionals complain about rigged elections to the management. A number of courageous lawyers still do represent political cases and torture victims, but they risk harassment, arbitrary detention and torture themselves."

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2006 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Women accused of public order offences have little possibility to defend themselves ("10th European Country of Origin Infomation Seminar Budapest, 1 - 2 December 2005: Final Report on Sudan") [#49770],  [ID 18928]

"Persons, who are accused of public order offences, have no access to legal representation and sentences are passed very quickly. Victims, mostly women, have little possibility to defend themselves. The most common punishment is lashing or whipping. So if women are picked up in the evening, in the morning they will be brought before a judge, with the sentence, like whipping, being carried out the same afternoon. Victims have no legal remedies against this practice."

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26.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Article 21 of the National Security Forces Act of 1999 allows incommunicado detention without charge or trial for a maximum of nine months ("Annual Report 2004") [#22722],  [ID 12273]

"National and military security forces continued to hold detainees in prolonged incommunicado detention without access to lawyers or any judicial review, using Article 31 of the National Security Forces Act of 1999 which allows incommunicado detention without charge or trial for a maximum of nine months."

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