Ten Darfurians Sentenced To Death For the Beheading of Mohamed Taha

Posted on November 14, 2007
Filed Under Sudan |

Remember Mohamed Taha? He’s the editor of a Sudanese newspaper who was beheaded last year. The criminal act sent shock waves throughout Khartoum and was followed by months of investigations/ “investigations”. At one point, officials even said they weren’t going to rule out the possibility of “Western hands”. Now ten Darfurians have been found guilty and sentenced to death.

November 10, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Ten Darfuris accused of beheading a Sudanese journalist were sentenced to death by firing squad on Saturday, a punishment usually reserved only for the military, the defence said.

At the start all fingers (including mine) were pointing towards Muslim extremists due to the way the killing was carried out. When the investigation began, other fingers eventually started pointing towards a group of Darfurians as the ones possibly responsible. Here’s why:

Taha was himself an Islamist but had angered others by reprinting an article questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammed. Authorities said he also angered Darfuris by writing articles questioning the morals of Darfuri women

This is old news. The articles (which I didn’t read) allegedly made it seem as if the rape crimes occurring against women in Darfur where either mostly fabrications or not a big deal since Darfurians supposedly have a culture of practicing pre-marital sex anyway. Not surprisingly, Darfurians found this deeply insulting. That’s the story basically.

The problem is many simply aren’t very convinced with the results of the investigation. I’m a little skeptical myself.

the court was influenced by the political establishment in the unprecedented ruling. Anyone condemned to death in Sudan is usually hanged.

“The court was full of security services and government figures,” he said, adding he would appeal the sentence.

“He” refers to Omer, the leading member of the defence team.

“We will take the legal route, go to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court,” Omer said.

Omer had himself been imprisoned overnight for making public comments that his clients had been tortured to extract their confessions.

Awww, isn’t that cute? Even Omer himself was thrown in prison for speaking some forbidden words. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were tortured. This is our reality. In fact, only if they weren’t, would I truly be surprised.

Oh and now for the great ending: a 16 year old boy is amongst the 10 sentenced to death.

Yaaay!

Comments

12 Responses to “Ten Darfurians Sentenced To Death For the Beheading of Mohamed Taha”

  1. Roman Kalik on November 14th, 2007 11:58 am

    This is fishy. Unfortunately, it seems that there are little to no facts made public in this matter, merely questionable conclusions.

    To me, this trial looks very much like an excuse to publicly execute some rebels, with a blaze.

  2. Drima on November 14th, 2007 12:30 pm

    I don’t think they’re rebels. There could be a simpler explanation.

    Mohamed Taha was an Islamist. He was part of the NIF in the past but then later walked away because he wasn’t happy with how things were being run. After that he began writing articles very critical of them.

    Word has it that he planned to release some sensitive information about crap they did. At the same time back then there were riots in Khartoum thanks to increases in prices. The government wanted to hit two birds with one stone, silence him and propagate fear.

    I can’t be very sure though. I haven’t been following the investigation thoroughly. The aforementioned in this comment is mere speculation. Too much information about this case is being kept secret.

  3. Drima on November 14th, 2007 12:35 pm

    What’s most outrageous is that they want to execute a 16 year old boy with a SHOOTING SQUAD! WTF?

  4. The Raccoon on November 14th, 2007 12:58 pm

    Drima -

    I can’t really think of a gracious way to execute anyone, regardless of age. And a firing squad is an OK way to go.

  5. Drima on November 14th, 2007 1:14 pm

    Lethal injection?

  6. Andrew Brehm on November 14th, 2007 1:40 pm

    I am against the death penalty (except for cases that cannot be handled by the legal system) and I am certainly against the execution of minors.

    In fact, international law forbids the execution of minors, but why would Sudan care about international law.

    If you cannot make it up on the spot, it is not a law, is the Sudanese government’s motto, no doubt.

  7. Roman Kalik on November 14th, 2007 2:18 pm

    Lethal injection is not painless, it never was and it never will be. And the procedure isn’t that quick either. Furthermore, it requires medical supervision, hardly what one might call the proper job for a doctor.

    No, hanging is a much better way of executing someone if you keep professional hangmen. A split second, the neck breaks, and that’s that. A firing squad also ends quickly, as the sheer amount of bullets insures that the first volley is lethal. Frankly, the most grisly and ugly forms of execution are also the most humane, with the gilliotine being a prime example. Of course, modern forms of execution are more about being “clean” than about being quick, as appearances are sadly more important to most than the actual facts.

    Another example of the above rule is Jewish Kosher slaughtering of animals. A quick deep cut in the throat means immediate loss of blood pressure to the brain, meaning that the cow (for example) loses conciousness immediately and its life shortly afterwards. And yet many animal rights activists believe that a great big hammer to the head to stun the cow is more… humane. Why? Because there’s no blood.

  8. Roman Kalik on November 14th, 2007 2:27 pm

    And yes, executing adults is problematic enough (though I can’t say that I am fully against it), but executing a minor just shows that justice was never the intention here. Legal punishments are a matter of guilt and accountability, with a focus on the latter. How can one hold a child or even a young teen to be fully accountable is beyond me.

  9. Dalu on November 14th, 2007 7:23 pm

    1) a 16 year old?
    2) a firing squad?

    Jeezus. :’(

    3) “a culture of practicing pre-marital sex?”

    So it’s okay to rape in that case?!

    I could only handle three WTFs in one day.
    -sigh-

  10. chiba on November 16th, 2007 6:01 pm

    People need here to calm down…
    Its not the first death sentence in Sudan
    but what surprised me is that all 10 accused get death sentences
    and i think it has nothing to do with them darfurian,if they were from any other area the result would be the same..
    anyway,its good to know that khartoum is a fairly safe city,and the police are really effective

  11. Drima on November 17th, 2007 3:14 am

    chiba, erm… ok… btw, just curious, where are you from? :)

  12. chiba on November 18th, 2007 10:28 pm

    If you want to see the video of the trial:

    http://sudaninside.com/2007/11/12/ten-to-be-executed-for-journalist-murder/

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