Sudanese Revolution Groups Rebuff Report By A Committee On The Sit-in Massacre
27 July, 2019
Head of the committee Fatah Rahaman Saeed
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) - A report by the Military Council-sponsored committee on the massacre of dozens of pro-democracy youth on June 3rd 2019, was, as expected, rejected by protestors groups.
The groups argued on Saturday and only few hours from the time the findings were made public that the report falls short of any expectations or of meeting the minimum standards presumed in the work of such probation committee.
The committee headed by Judge Fatah Rahaman Saeed, conceded that officers from the Army and from the Rapid Support Forces were involved in the killing at the sit-in areas.
The committee has however argued those officers were acting on their own and in response to order by a senior general who wasn’t supposed to be involved in dispersing the youth gathering around the army headquarters at the time.
The committee recommended that criminal legal action be taken against the seven senior army officers, led by a Major General on crimes against humanity, punishable by life imprisonment and by capital punishment.
But the Spokesperson for Sudanese Professionals Association, Ismail Tajj, rebuffed the report altogether. He argued the pro-democracy groups have in the first place opposed the formation of the committee as among other shortcomings, the office of the Attorney General itself was held in suspicion of involvement in breaking up the sit in and therefore could not be trusted to handle the process.
Tajj added that the committee’s report talks about 87 people killed and 63 injured when the facts as reported by a medical doctors committee put those killed at 130. He said for the opposition those were the correct figures.
Saeed, the head of the committee, told reporters at a news briefing that his committee found out that those killed during the whole protest from June 3rd to June the 6th 2019, were 87, including only 17 inside the sit in area, while 168 were injured including only 63 inside the sin it camping area.
“The formation of the committee itself was nil and void. The Political Agreement with the Military Council stipulates in one of its clauses that an independent investigation committee be formed on the matter. The Military council was in agreement on this. And furthermore the Military Council which formed the committee is in itself accused as per the statement of (lt Gen) Al Kabashi (Member of the Military Council) who made utterances that the Military Council ordered the dispersal of the sit in” Nour Eddin Babikir of the Forces of Freedom and Change said shortly after the report was made public on Saturday.
The government committee in the presser on Saturday said it has recommended that seven senior officers be charged under the Sudanese criminal law under articles of crime against humanity, giving order to shoot at protesters.
It said those involved in the killing have also violated clear orders given to them to clear an area adjacent to the protest area but that they expanded the areas and invaded the sit in camping overlooking the army headquarters in Khartoum. He further denied any case of rape to have taken place, based on police official records. He said this was not the end of the story and that investigations would continue in any case to be brought to the attention of his committee.
However another leader within the Forces of Freedom and Change said he was doubtful about the timing for releasing the report as it comes a few hours before a scheduled meeting between the FFC and the Military council and that it was just seeking to mar the ambiance for the negotiations and frustrating them.
Already many quarters in Khartoum have been reported by eyewitness to have experience protest and demonstration against the outcome of the committee’s work and its report. Police used tear gas to disperse angry youth in some areas, and in other youth resorted to re-erecting barricades.
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MO/AS
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