Rights groups plead for 88 on death row

International human rights organisations have expressed concern over the fate of 88 people, including two children, who have been sentenced to death by hanging or crucifixion in Sudan's Darfur region for taking part in ethnic clashes. On Sunday, the Sudanese government reportedly said it would not overturn the death sentences against the 88 people convicted of taking part in May clashes between the ethnic al-Muraalia and Reizagat tribes. At least 50 people were killed in the clashes. The rights group, Amnesty International, has condemned the death sentences as unfair and called for the immediate release of the detainees. "Everything is wrong with this case," the organisation said in a recent statement. "Not only have death sentences been passed, which Amnesty International opposes unconditionally, but they were passed after an obviously unfair trial. Those sentenced include two children, despite the worldwide ban on sentencing children under the age of 18 to death." According to Amnesty, "emergency courts" sometimes known as "special courts", were established in Darfur under a 1998 state of emergency, which grants wide powers to circumvent Sudan's Criminal Procedures Act. The courts are headed by two military judges and one civilian judge and do not permit legal representation for the accused, the agency said. The Geneva-based International Secretariat of World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said it was deeply concerned over the health of the detainees and the "continuing wave of arbitrary arrests and detentions" in Darfur. In a statement, the OMCT urged the Khartoum government to carry out an impartial investigation into the "arbitrary circumstances" under which some of the prisoners were arrested and detained, as well as reports of the use of torture. "More generally, OMCT is concerned by the reported worsening human rights situation in Darfur, which includes mass arrests, harsh detention conditions and the continuing persecution of the people from the African tribes native to the region," it added. "The government of Sudan must now ensure that the sentences are not carried out," Amnesty International said. "It should put an end to this cruelty."