Sudan sentences to death 27 agents who tortured protester to death

Omdurman, Sudan | AFP |  A Sudanese court on Monday sentenced 27 intelligence agents to death for torturing and killing a protester early this year, an AFP correspondent said.

The defendants were found guilty of torturing to death Ahmed al-Kheir Awadh at an intelligence services facility and sentenced to be hanged, judge Sadok Albdelrahman said.

The teacher was beaten and tortured to death after he was arrested in late January by intelligence operatives in Kassala state in eastern Sudan, the judge said.

Sudanese took to the streets from December 2018, initially to protest against high bread prices, but the demonstrations soon turned into demands for autocrat Omar al-Bashir to step down.

The president was deposed in April by the military, but huge protests continued, culminating in a compromise that saw a joint military-civilian transitional council formed in August.

At least 177 people were killed in repression of the months-long protests, according to rights group Amnesty International, while a doctors’ committee close to the protest movement put the toll at over 250.

Many of those killed were the victims of a June 3 massacre outside army headquarters in Khartoum, perpetrated by men in military fatigues.