HUDO Centre
15th Sept 2016
Update (4) COURT TRIAL OF
NISS/SUDAN AGAINST PASTORS AND ACTIVIST
The fifth (5th) court proceedings started at 12:50 pm on 5thSeptember 2016 and
the hearing was before Justice Dr. Osama M. Abdalla. There was another
translator. The prosecutor displayed an audio recording concerning the first
and third defendants. The judge ended the session at 03:15 pm and adjourned
court to 21st September2016.
Summary of the court session
The session was presided over by Justice Dr. Osama M. Abdalla at Khartoum
Centre Court. In attendance were the prosecutor/ investigator, complainant, the
defendants and their lawyers as well as the new translator Dr. Adam Mohamadain
a lecturer at Khartoum University, translation department. The judge did not
give a reason for changing the translator. The investigator counsel/
Abdurrahman displayed audio recordings and the translator gave interpretation
to it. The audio recordings were divided into two sections;
Section one was the 1st defendant conducting an interview with the student/ Ali
Omer Mussa (who was burnt) while the 3rd defendant was facilitating the
translation between them. According to the audio, the 1st defendant came
purposely to document the student’s case after he had been mentioned and
highlighted by the 3rd defendant at Addis Ababa conference. According to the
investigator, the 1st defendant introduced himself to the burned student as
representative of an American organization named PPF in Africa and that they
provide assistance to such cases.
Section two was a meeting between the 1st and 3rd defendants
at Afraa mall in which the 3rd defendant explains to the 1st defendant how the
student had converted from Islam to Christianity and himself. They also
discussed about Islam religion. The defendants’ lawyers objected many times
about the court procedures, one of the objections was on the investigator’s
comment “the third defendant was dishonest in translation between the first defendant
and student”. The court accepted the objection and changed the word dishonest
to incorrect. One of the defendants’ lawyers commented directly to the court
that: “it’s unacceptable for the court to be directed/ driven by one of the
litigants”. At 03:15 pm the judge ended the session and adjourned court to 21st
September 2016 because of the Eid holiday (Eid Aladhaa).
HUDO Centre Notes;
· Court did not
register/write down the translation, the judge only kept listening to the
verbal interpretation and no written version was given to the judge by the
translator.
· The number of NISS
operatives in attendance had reduced compared to the previous sessions.
· High number of
people/public came to attend to the extent that some who were allowed used to
sit on the floor because lack of seats.
· One of the observers
lawyer commented that: It’s very clear to any observer that, the judge is doing
his best to protect the accusing panel from being objected or critiqued.
Recommendations/ Appeal HUDO is highly concern about the way court is running.
To ensure that the international standard of justice is followed,
HUDO recommends that;
§ Urge the Sudan court
conducts a fair trial.
§ Urges the EU, USA and
other embassies to attend the court sessions.
§ Calls upon the activists
and defendants’ supporters to keep on attending the trial.
End For any further information please write to hudo2009@gmail.com