AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Press Release
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Amnesty International Condemns Executions of Nine Men in Sudan
Organization Says the Men -- Tortured and Subjected to an Unfair Trial -- May Have Been Innocent
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, strimel@aiusa.org
(New York) -- Amnesty International today condemned the executions of nine men in Sudan on Monday for the murder of a newspaper editor, saying the men were tortured, forced to sign confessions and then subjected to an unfair trial. The human rights organization called the executions outrageous, and a tragic example of the application of the death sentence since the men -- who retracted their forced confessions in court -- may have been innocent.
The nine men were hanged for the murder of newspaper editor Mohamed Taha, whose decapitated body was found in September 2006 a day after he had been abducted from his home in Khartoum.
The men who were executed for Taha's murder maintained they had been tortured to confess. They all retracted their confessions in court, but the court still accepted the confessions as evidence and handed down death sentences.
Many of the men had marks of torture and their defense lawyers requested medical examinations to investigate the alleged torture but were refused.
"The execution of the nine men is outrageous. They were arbitrarily arrested, tortured and then subjected to an unfair trial", said Tawanda Hondora, deputy director, African program at Amnesty International.
"This case is a tragic example of what happens when an irreversible punishment such as the death penalty is applied", said Hondora.
The nine men executed were: Ishaq Mohammed Sanousi, Abdel Hay Omar, Mustafa Adam, Mohammed Birgid, Hassan Adam Fadel, Adam Ibrahim, Jamaleddin Isa, Abdel Magid Ali Abdel Magid and Sabir Hassan. Ten people were initially convicted of the murder but one was later acquitted.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Please visit www.amnestyusa.org for more information.
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