December 13, 2001 (Ramadan the 28th)
On April 24, 1990
(the 26th of the Muslims' holy month of Ramadan), Omer Bashir, the existing
president of Sudan, allowed as head of state the extra-judicial killing
of 28 army officers and more than 200 regulars of the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAFs).
A large number
of officers were accused of involvement in a military coup to overthrow
the June military coup-government. The officers were put on trial before
military courts formed by order of Omer Al-Bashir, a brigadier in the
active service of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Earlier, Omer Bashir became
a self-appointed supreme commander of the June 30th military coup that
overthrew the elected government of the Sudan in full collaboration
with the National Islamic Front.
The coup leader
abused the legal powers prescribed by the 1983 armed forces law to eliminate
28 officers whom he considered as "his" personal enemies in
the armed forces. The court martial was made into two tribunals. The
first court was chaired by colonel Seed Ahmed Kunna. The second court
was chaired by colonel Mohamed Al-Khanjar.
The court formation
violated Sudan military law, which requires the formation of a court
chaired by a commander with a higher rank than the accused officer or
at least the same rank of the accused officer. Among the April accused
officers were officers bearing the high ranks of general, lieutenant-general,
and brigadier. Of these, general (pilot) Khalid Al-Zain, lieutenant-general
Al-Kadaro, lieutenant-general Osman Idris Baloal, and brigadier (pilot)
Mohamed osman Karrar were extra-judicially executed.
In gross violation
of the Peoples' Armed Forces law 1983 and relevant regulations, the
accused officers were not shown creation orders of the court martial;
nor were they allowed to object to membership of the courts that sentenced
them to death. There was no examination, cross-examination of witnesses,
or defense and legal assistance as required by observable military regulations.
The military tribunals
that Omer Bashir hastily formed did not take more than 5 minutes in
all. The courts never adhered to any procedure of the 1983 law. In fact,
the sentences had been issued and executed by the NIF ruling group before
they were submitted for formal approval to brigadier Omer Hassan Ahmed
Al-Bashir, chairperson of the June coup who unlawfully appointed himself
as commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Para. (6) Section
(126) of the law that appears to insure the right of the accused to
hear court decisions has never been applied in the trials.
What is more dishonoring
was that before the April trials were started, a bulldozer had been
excavating a deep ditch in earth. After decisions were taken, the officers
were brought in small groups each composed of 4 or 5 individuals with
tightened arms and blind folded eyes. They were shot in the back so
that they would fall into the ditch; they were finally buried. The executioners
did not even care to ascertain if the officers were dead or alive.
After the failure
of the Ramadan/April 1990's movement many false accusations were directed
against army regulars. Lieutenant-colonel Mohamed Ahmed Kasim was brought
from his jail at El-Obied prison, unlawfully tried, and executed by
court martial.
SHRO-Cairo condemns
in the strongest terms possible the extra-judicial killings of the army
regulars by Omer Bashir and his supporters.
(*) The Organization
reiterates its call to put to trial Omer Bashir and all the other army
officers and/or NIF members that by participating in the arrest, trial,
court decisions, and fire squad of the Ramadan massacre violated the
Sudanese military law with punishable crimes.
(*) The organization requires the Sudanese Armed Forces authorities
to disclose the names of the non-commissioned officers and/or regulars
who were extra-judicially killed and/or dismissed by the Kunna and/or
Al-Khanjar unlawful courts.
(*) SHRO-Cairo
asks the Government of Sudan to recognize the right of the martyrs'
families to identify the graves of the martyrs, obtain their wills,
and receive appropriate compensation for the widows and orphans with
respect to the damage ensuing in the extra-judicial killing and/or the
dismissal of the other officers and soldiers accused of the movement.
SHRO-Cairo is aware
that the military law 1983 is not an ideal law for the armed forces.
The law, however, does not permit army officers or civilians to violate
its provisions or procedure as unlawfully exercised by Omer Bashir versus
the Ramadan martyrs.
The 1983 law originally
came into force on November 6, 1983, in the reign of Jaf'ar Nimeiri,
the former dictator of Sudan. A great deal of the violations committed
against people by the 1983 military law were abuses of power by army
officers that were correlated with the serious shortcomings and ambiguities
of the law, besides the bad faith underlying the legislation
The involvement
of NIF civilians in the Ramadan massacre, however, constitutes an unprecedented
unlawful intrusion in the administration of the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Nimeiri planted
the seeds of the NIF religious state by the enforcement of large Arabization
and Islamization programs that continue to fuel civil war and chaos
in the whole country up to this day. The Islamization program included
the military laws as well, despite the fact that many members of the
national army subscribe to different religions and respond to a variety
of fighting and defense motives.
The Muslim zakat
tradition was imposed on the army salaries, many of which do not amount
to the necessary limits of al-zakat giving. The law imposed flogging,
which is unsuitable to the status and role of armies besides the hud
punishment in accordance with the penal law. The humiliation and persecution
of the armed forces is further practiced through the infliction of penalties
included in the rules and/or sanctions by the commander-in-chief of
the armed forces, as well as high ranking officers.
With these diversified
sources of punishment, Section 125 of the Armed Forces Law 1983 becomes
one of the most horrifying texts of the law as it jeopardizes principles
of justice and the right to life, the sacred law guaranteed by international
law, constitutional law, and humanitarian law. The section permits military
courts to decide as they wish on the fate of the accused with all kinds
of penalties, including capital punishment, chopping of limbs, flogging,
etc. The courts may even add other punishments as allowable by military
law and the rules of the army commander-in-chief.
(*) SHRO-Cairo
strongly calls for the abolishment of the 1993 law as well as the Sudan
Penal Law that grossly violate international human rights norms and
fail to comply with principles of justice and the proper application
of law.
(*) The Organization urges the Government of Sudan to insure the national
entity of the Sudanese laws, whether civilian or military, by a strict
avoidance of all Islamization or Arabization programs that grossly discriminate
between citizens of the same nation.
(*) Sufficient safeguards must be adopted in the armed forces' law and
regulations to guarantee the sacred right to life with special emphasis
on the UN guarantees to protect the rights of persons facing the penalty
of death.
(*) The reform
of Sudanese military law should include the right to appeal military
court decisions before a court of appeal. Equally important, the absolute
powers granted to the commander-in-chief and/or senior officers must
be fairly restricted.
The Ramadan Martyrs
of the Sudanese Armed Forces included:
General Khalid
Al-Zain
Lt-General Osman
Baloul
Lt-General Hussain
Al-Kadaro
Brigadier Mohamed
Karar
Colonel Naser Bashir
Colonel Ismat Taha
Colonel Salah Al-Din
Hussain
Lt. Colonel Bashir
Abu-Deek
Lt. Colonel Mohamed
Abdel-Aziz
Lt. Colonel Abdel-Mon'im
Karar
Lt. Colonel Sayed
Abdel-Rahim
Lt. Colonel Bashir
Salih
Major Usama Abd-Allah
Major Babiker Nud-Allah
Major Akram Yusif
Major Nihad Humaida
Major Isam Al-Hassan
Major Al-Fatih
Al-Yas
Major Salah Al-Din
Dirdeeri
Major Sid Ahmed
Al-Nu'man
Major Taj Al-Din
Fath Al-Rahman
Major Al-Fatih
Khalil
Captain Mudathir
Mahgoub
Captain Mustafa
Awad Khgali
Captain Abdel-Mon'im
Kimair
The Names of Non-Commissioned
Officers (Must be disclosed by the Chief-of-Staff of the Sudanese Armed
Forces)
