No Pardon for Captive JEM Children
(Khartoum) – The lawyer of children accused of taking part in the Justice and Equality Movement attack on Omdurman last year says they are being held in appalling conditions.
Adam Bakur told Sudan Radio Service that social welfare and child rights activists, NGOs and government officials, have failed to come to the aid of the twelve captured children.
[Adam Bakur]: “Their situation is not good. They need a lot of things; they are not eating good food; even such things as toothbrushes are not given to them. We the defense lawyers, are struggling to help them by contributing money from own pockets. No one is supporting us and this has made some of our lawyers drop the case.”
Adam Bakur added that they have been wondering why the President’s pardon for all the children accused of participating in the attack was not applied to them.
[Adam Bakur]: “Since the children's court case began, we applied for their release in accordance with Presidential decree number 211, section 2. It provides a pardon for all of the children involved in the Omdurman incident. But there was a mistake in the list of the children and these particular kids were in detention alongside the adults and their names were not added for the presidential pardon.”
Bakur is accusing the prosecution of not presenting the right documents and he says the courts are also dragging their feet on the cases. He said that since the first hearing, the sittings have been constantly postponed. The first hearing of the children’s case began after the sentencing of the adult JEM members in June.
Ninety-one JEM fighters have been sentenced to death for their part in the Omdurman attack.
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