Sudan military intelligence force storms South Kordofan court

The judge of the Abu Jubeiha Court in Sudan’s South Kordofan has closed the court for a week and suspended its hearings in protest against the storming of the building by a force from the military intelligence last week.

Lawyer Abdelrahim El Sadig told Radio Dabanga that the court seized a tractor owned by one of the residents after his inability to pay instalments to the Agricultural Bank. The force commanded by a Captain of the military intelligence stormed the court, forcibly took the tractor, and arrested the representative of the Agricultural Bank in the court in his administrative capacity.

He said that the judge filed complaint to the prosecution, which addressed the armed forces to transfer the accused, but did not commit to do so.

The judge considered the conduct to be a blatant defiance of the decisions and orders of the courts and decided not to open the court until the arrest and prosecution of those involved.

El Sadig said that the military intelligence released the employee of the Agricultural Bank on the same day after a protest by the bank’s management and staff.

He announced to Radio Dabanga the lawyers’ full solidarity with the decisions of the judge of the court and considered the conduct of military intelligence a clear violation of justice and a challenge to the orders and decisions of the courts.