An appeals court in Sinja, Sennar State, eastern Sudan, yesterday upheld the death penalties in absentia for the chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Malik Agar, SPLM-N Secretary-General, Yasir Arman, and 15 other leaders of the movement.

The court announced that the judgment is to be published at all Sudanese ports, including sea-, land-, and airports.

The court also ordered the confiscation of SPLM-N properties in Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile State, where Malik Agar, former elected governor of the state, resided, before the town was attacked by government forces in September 2011.

The court ruling came after the defense team had appealed against the judgment of a lower court last March of 47 SPLM-N members in a case that became known in the media as “the court case of the Blue Nile events.”

El Tijani Hassan, a lawyer of the defence team, said that a new appeal would be raised at the Supreme Court in Khartoum against the death sentences and the confiscation of the properties.

Hassan said that 52 SPLM-N members have been convicted so far, and 69 were acquitted. “All spent between one year and three-and-a-half years in prison before they were tried.”

The lawyer pointed out that the court of appeal also amended charges against Min Allah Husain from death penalty to life imprisonment.

He further revealed the same court ordered confiscation of money belonging to Lina Malik Agar, but released her vehicle and house.

File photo: Yasir Arman (Reuters)