Sudan police disperse brawl following New Halfa court verdict

Independent local sources have reported to Radio Dabanga that security tensions and chaos erupted inside the court in New Halfa in Sudan’s Kassala state on Saturday, following a verdict in a case of looting property belonging to displaced people from the Libya market west of Omdurman. The sources say that a confrontation followed outside the court between members of the defendants’ family and the complainants, that erupted into a brawl, that needed to be dispersed by police, who arrested at least five participants.

According to the sources, the Judge issued a ruling convicting the main defendant, sentencing him to one year in prison starting from the date of his arrest last March, in addition to fining him two billion pounds, and obligating him to compensate the complainant. The court acquitted two co-defendants.

The sources explained that the basis of the report states that the complainant, who is displaced, had handed over the keys to his house to one of the accused to guard it after the outbreak of the war. The complainant accused the main defendant of using the Rapid Support Forces and looting the contents of the house, which were estimated to be worth about SDG 250 billion.

The sources added that tension erupted after the session ended, when members of the defendants’ family confronted the complainant and his brother as they were leaving the court, leading to an attempted shooting, before the situation escalated into a fistfight that extended into a waterway near the court, amid a state of panic among the public.

The sources indicated that the police intervened and fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd, before a force from the Central Reserve equipped with heavy weapons was deployed to secure the court. No injuries have been reported, however at least five people were arrested and placed in custody at the New Halfa police station.