Post by sclcookie on May 30, 2006 0:24:27 GMT -5
Does Sudan Execute Minors?
Most people have never heard of Nagmeldin Abdallah. It is impossible to
reach him in the eastern Sudanese prison where he waits for word on an
appeal that may save his life. But Abdallah has achieved minor notoriety
in activist circles.
Sudan's complex death penalty statutes may never have gained international
attention were it not for Abdallah, who claims he was 15 when he was
sentenced to death for killing a vegetable seller in 2003.
The problem boils down to how seriously the world should take judicial
sentences that Sudanese officials say are not carried out. Sudan courts
may sentence juveniles to death, but officials here say they never have
carried out such a penalty. They prefer instead to release a minor to his
parents on appeal.
This routine, though, leaves human rights groups concerned. First, merely
sentencing a minor to death violates international treaties to which Sudan
is a signatory. Second, they say, sentencing a minor to death may someday
lead to actually killing one.
That is where Abdallah comes in.
Amnesty International decries Abdallah's conviction and mentions him often
as part of a campaign aimed at ending the death penalty in Sudan.
But Sudanese officials said Abdallah was an adult when he committed his
crime; he signed a confession stating that he was 20 at the time of the
murder. Moreover, they said Sudan's peculiar jumble of ex-British colonial
laws and Shari'a code make it hard for anyone in this land to actually be
put to death.
Sudan's constitution under Article 36-2 appears to allow minors to be
executed for hudud crimes, which include murder, adultery and apostasy,
leaving Islam for another religion or for a secular lifestyle. Sudan
officials, though, insist that the truth is lost in translation.
The English translation states: "The death penalty shall not be imposed on
a person under the age of eighteen or a person who has attained the age of
seventy except in cases of retribution or hudud."
"It is confusing," Fathi Khalil, president of the Sudan Bar Association,
told IPS. "But it is clear to us in the Arabic translation that minors
cannot be executed."
Leading rights groups including Amnesty denounce the constitution for
allowing the execution of minors and list the names of 4 youth who they
say have been sentenced to die by the state.
Amnesty charged in a 2005 report that minors are "convicted to death" in
Sudan contrary to some 4 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 4 named by Amnesty.
That is because Sudanese officials said that 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.
Khalil said he believed Sudan is the victim of a smear campaign aimed at
Islamic nations. The West views Islam as more cruel and unjust than other
religions, he said.
"Amnesty International does not like Sudan," he said. "They write about
Sudan without coming here."
Amnesty representative Theo Murphy told IPS via email that the
organisation could not provide the names of any minors who had been
executed, only the names of the four youths who had been sentenced to
death.
Other rights groups have charged similar abuses, but they, too, are unable
to prove that minors are executed.
Amir Mohamed Suleiman, a lawyer with the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights
and Environmental Development, said his organisation has documented the
execution of minors.
When asked to produce documents to back up those claims, however, Suleiman
said his colleague who handles the matter is in Britain. He shuffled
through a mound of files on his desk and concluded it would take weeks to
find her records of executions of minors.
He did recall the case of a 15-year-old southern Sudanese girl in Darfur
who was sentenced to death for adultery. Upon appeal, Suleiman said, her
sentence was reduced to 75 lashes.
Attorney Shakir Hassan, a former Ministry of Justice employee, said this
type of appeal is common. "Any doubt [about age] is interpreted in the
favour of the minor. If there is suspicion, the sentence is reduced,"
Hassan told IPS.
Hassan and Khalil both admited that mistakes can be made and minors may be
hung. "Every country everywhere makes mistakes," Khalil said. "What
happens in England or in America?"
Amnesty officials counter that because all systems are fallible, the death
penalty should be abolished worldwide, including the U.S. England
abolished capital punishment in 1965.
Sudanese officials' claims that others are exaggerating the problem appear
to have some basis.
Suleiman and a colleague, Ali Agab, insisted that the execution of minors
is commonplace in Sudan. Weeks later, after repeated requests by IPS for
the names of minors executed, Agab asked IPS to retract his prior
statements.
Suleiman later sent IPS an email with the name of a youth, Abel Aziz Omer
Hamed, whom he said had been executed in December 2005. He offered no
further details on the youth and was unavailable for comment following the
email message.
Tellingly, not all rights groups condemn Sudan. Some offer different
interpretations of the death penalty quagmire, and even Shari'a law in
Sudan.
Ghazi Suleiman, widely recognised as the godfather of human rights in
Sudan, has spent much of his career and in and out of prison for decrying
rights abuses. Still, he defended Sudan's legal code, claiming that Sudan
is governed not by Shari'a code, but British Common Law, the remnants of
colonisation which ended in 1956.
In fact, Sudan's penal code has 185 sections but only 4, 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 Shari'a 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.
That is why Nagmeldin Abdallah appears to have become the face of
injustice in Sudan -- because he slipped through the cracks.
Despite the right to counsel under Sudanese law, Abdallah initially stood
trial in May 2003 without a lawyer. Following the murder, Abdallah told
authorities he had lost his birth certificate and he was examined by a
doctor who determined Abdallah was an adult.
In a signed statement to police Abdallah swore he was 20 years old and
confessed to stabbing the 35-year-old victim. He was convicted and
sentenced to death in 2003.
Abdallah's father launched an unsuccessful appeal, while his son sat on
death row. In November 2003 Abdallah met Rifaat Makkawi, a lawyer working
with the People's Legal Aid Centre.
Abdallah told Makkawi that he was only 15 years old at the time of the
crime, that he had not been represented and that his confession had been
extracted after he was tortured.
Abdallah admitted he had a motive for the murder. He claimed that the man
he killed had sexually abused him, a fact he did not mention at the trial
because his father was present.
"According to this culture, he is not a criminal. If someone sexually
abuses you, I would have done the same thing," Makkawi said.
Mekkawi has since set out to prove that Nagmeldin was a minor to save his
client from death.
"When it came to the appeal court they started trying to use the age
[defense], said Abdul Moneim Taha, head of the Sudan Advisory Council for
Human Rights. "A birth certificate was submitted to the appeal court only
after the initial trial."
Here the accusations and counter-accusations began.
Moneim charged the certificate is a fake; that it was issued only after
Abdallah's father swore in an affidavit that his son was born on 7
November 1987.
Mekkawi said the certificate is a copy from state files and that
prosecutors have refused to even look in state records for Abdallah's
original birth notice.
Moneim said a panel of 3 doctors determined that Abdallah was an adult.
Mekkawi said his client was examined by a single doctor who merely looked
at his body to determine he was an adult.
Abdallah's case is currently under review by the nation's Constitutional
Court. His fate now hangs in the balance.
(source: IPS)
Most people have never heard of Nagmeldin Abdallah. It is impossible to
reach him in the eastern Sudanese prison where he waits for word on an
appeal that may save his life. But Abdallah has achieved minor notoriety
in activist circles.
Sudan's complex death penalty statutes may never have gained international
attention were it not for Abdallah, who claims he was 15 when he was
sentenced to death for killing a vegetable seller in 2003.
The problem boils down to how seriously the world should take judicial
sentences that Sudanese officials say are not carried out. Sudan courts
may sentence juveniles to death, but officials here say they never have
carried out such a penalty. They prefer instead to release a minor to his
parents on appeal.
This routine, though, leaves human rights groups concerned. First, merely
sentencing a minor to death violates international treaties to which Sudan
is a signatory. Second, they say, sentencing a minor to death may someday
lead to actually killing one.
That is where Abdallah comes in.
Amnesty International decries Abdallah's conviction and mentions him often
as part of a campaign aimed at ending the death penalty in Sudan.
But Sudanese officials said Abdallah was an adult when he committed his
crime; he signed a confession stating that he was 20 at the time of the
murder. Moreover, they said Sudan's peculiar jumble of ex-British colonial
laws and Shari'a code make it hard for anyone in this land to actually be
put to death.
Sudan's constitution under Article 36-2 appears to allow minors to be
executed for hudud crimes, which include murder, adultery and apostasy,
leaving Islam for another religion or for a secular lifestyle. Sudan
officials, though, insist that the truth is lost in translation.
The English translation states: "The death penalty shall not be imposed on
a person under the age of eighteen or a person who has attained the age of
seventy except in cases of retribution or hudud."
"It is confusing," Fathi Khalil, president of the Sudan Bar Association,
told IPS. "But it is clear to us in the Arabic translation that minors
cannot be executed."
Leading rights groups including Amnesty denounce the constitution for
allowing the execution of minors and list the names of 4 youth who they
say have been sentenced to die by the state.
Amnesty charged in a 2005 report that minors are "convicted to death" in
Sudan contrary to some 4 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 4 named by Amnesty.
That is because Sudanese officials said that 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.
Khalil said he believed Sudan is the victim of a smear campaign aimed at
Islamic nations. The West views Islam as more cruel and unjust than other
religions, he said.
"Amnesty International does not like Sudan," he said. "They write about
Sudan without coming here."
Amnesty representative Theo Murphy told IPS via email that the
organisation could not provide the names of any minors who had been
executed, only the names of the four youths who had been sentenced to
death.
Other rights groups have charged similar abuses, but they, too, are unable
to prove that minors are executed.
Amir Mohamed Suleiman, a lawyer with the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights
and Environmental Development, said his organisation has documented the
execution of minors.
When asked to produce documents to back up those claims, however, Suleiman
said his colleague who handles the matter is in Britain. He shuffled
through a mound of files on his desk and concluded it would take weeks to
find her records of executions of minors.
He did recall the case of a 15-year-old southern Sudanese girl in Darfur
who was sentenced to death for adultery. Upon appeal, Suleiman said, her
sentence was reduced to 75 lashes.
Attorney Shakir Hassan, a former Ministry of Justice employee, said this
type of appeal is common. "Any doubt [about age] is interpreted in the
favour of the minor. If there is suspicion, the sentence is reduced,"
Hassan told IPS.
Hassan and Khalil both admited that mistakes can be made and minors may be
hung. "Every country everywhere makes mistakes," Khalil said. "What
happens in England or in America?"
Amnesty officials counter that because all systems are fallible, the death
penalty should be abolished worldwide, including the U.S. England
abolished capital punishment in 1965.
Sudanese officials' claims that others are exaggerating the problem appear
to have some basis.
Suleiman and a colleague, Ali Agab, insisted that the execution of minors
is commonplace in Sudan. Weeks later, after repeated requests by IPS for
the names of minors executed, Agab asked IPS to retract his prior
statements.
Suleiman later sent IPS an email with the name of a youth, Abel Aziz Omer
Hamed, whom he said had been executed in December 2005. He offered no
further details on the youth and was unavailable for comment following the
email message.
Tellingly, not all rights groups condemn Sudan. Some offer different
interpretations of the death penalty quagmire, and even Shari'a law in
Sudan.
Ghazi Suleiman, widely recognised as the godfather of human rights in
Sudan, has spent much of his career and in and out of prison for decrying
rights abuses. Still, he defended Sudan's legal code, claiming that Sudan
is governed not by Shari'a code, but British Common Law, the remnants of
colonisation which ended in 1956.
In fact, Sudan's penal code has 185 sections but only 4, 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 Shari'a 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.
That is why Nagmeldin Abdallah appears to have become the face of
injustice in Sudan -- because he slipped through the cracks.
Despite the right to counsel under Sudanese law, Abdallah initially stood
trial in May 2003 without a lawyer. Following the murder, Abdallah told
authorities he had lost his birth certificate and he was examined by a
doctor who determined Abdallah was an adult.
In a signed statement to police Abdallah swore he was 20 years old and
confessed to stabbing the 35-year-old victim. He was convicted and
sentenced to death in 2003.
Abdallah's father launched an unsuccessful appeal, while his son sat on
death row. In November 2003 Abdallah met Rifaat Makkawi, a lawyer working
with the People's Legal Aid Centre.
Abdallah told Makkawi that he was only 15 years old at the time of the
crime, that he had not been represented and that his confession had been
extracted after he was tortured.
Abdallah admitted he had a motive for the murder. He claimed that the man
he killed had sexually abused him, a fact he did not mention at the trial
because his father was present.
"According to this culture, he is not a criminal. If someone sexually
abuses you, I would have done the same thing," Makkawi said.
Mekkawi has since set out to prove that Nagmeldin was a minor to save his
client from death.
"When it came to the appeal court they started trying to use the age
[defense], said Abdul Moneim Taha, head of the Sudan Advisory Council for
Human Rights. "A birth certificate was submitted to the appeal court only
after the initial trial."
Here the accusations and counter-accusations began.
Moneim charged the certificate is a fake; that it was issued only after
Abdallah's father swore in an affidavit that his son was born on 7
November 1987.
Mekkawi said the certificate is a copy from state files and that
prosecutors have refused to even look in state records for Abdallah's
original birth notice.
Moneim said a panel of 3 doctors determined that Abdallah was an adult.
Mekkawi said his client was examined by a single doctor who merely looked
at his body to determine he was an adult.
Abdallah's case is currently under review by the nation's Constitutional
Court. His fate now hangs in the balance.
(source: IPS)