87 sentenced to death following tribal clashes

A Sudanese "Special Court" has sentenced 87 people to death in Nyala, Southern Darfur province, for their involvement in clashes with another tribe, according to the Sudanese News Agency (SUNA).

A further eight defendants were acquitted and one sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, the report said on Wednesday.

Those sentenced are members of the Rizeigat tribe, who were arrested following an attack on a village in southern Darfur which belongs to a rival tribe, known as the Ma'aliya.

The clashes - a "revenge attack" after a Rizeigat tribal member was killed - left 54 people dead, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdiery, the charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, told IRIN on Thursday.

The advocacy group, Organisation mondiale contre la torture (OMCT), reported on Tuesday that two of those sentenced to death were only 14 years-old. It also claimed 35 detainees were tortured.

Commenting on the allegations, Dirdiery said that according to Sudanese law, people sentenced to death could not be under 18 years of age. "If there is such a case, there would definitely be room to appeal," he said.

He added that the allegations of torture could not be correct as the crimes had been committed in daylight and therefore witnessed.

The lawyer acting on behalf of the defendants, Mohamed Fadl Hamid, submitted an appeal to the district chief of justice on 20 July, OMCT reported, but fears remain that the sentences may be carried out very quickly if the appeal fails.

Although both the Rizeigat and the Ma'aliya tribes are of Arabic origin, OMCT reported that elements of the Ma'aliya had joined with Sudanese government forces during recent attacks against the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south of the country. The Rizeigat have reportedly accused the government of supporting the Ma'aliya as a result.

Sudanese Special Courts were established in accordance with the State of Emergency Act 1998, by the governors of Southern and Northern Darfur Provinces, to deal with crimes of armed robbery, crimes against the state, as well as crimes relating to drugs and "public nuisance".