Darfur lawyers regret Sudanese judiciary’s ‘loss of independence’

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) has condemned the sentence of 20 lashes and the public flogging of three senior members of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) last Monday.

In a statement on Sunday, the Bar described the flogging as “a desperate attempt to humiliate honourable SCP cadres”, saying that the sentence is another indication that “the Sudanese judiciary has lost its independence and professionalism”.

The DBA added that the sentence thus “again revealed the regime’s lies, and the emptiness of the proposed national dialogue”.

Mastour Ahmed Mohamed, SCP’s political secretary and two colleagues were each sentenced to 20 lashes on charges of disturbing the public order on 6 July. The sentence was carried out immediately in front of the Omdurman Criminal Court.

They three activists had been detained on 28 April at the Libya Market in western Omdurman, where they participated in a public rally calling for the boycott of the “rigged elections” and demanding the release of all political detainees in the country.