Awaiting amputation in Khartoum

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 12

Awaiting amputation in Khartoum

By AAP correspondent,

WENDY LEVY,

, in Khartoum

More than 50 people are sitting in Khartoum’s Kober prison under sentence of amputation for stealing. The caretaker military Government which ousted the former President, Jaafar Nemery, and his version of Sharia (Islamic law), in April, this year, operates in a political and legal vacuum. Until recently, judges were obliged to hand down sentences of right hand amputation for thefts of more than 100 Sudanese pounds (about SNZS2) or cross limb amputation (right hand and left foot) for robbery with violence. Two months ago, the Chief Justice issued a directive, suspending the amputation penalty on the grounds of the famine, and the difficult economic situation. No amputations have taken place since the fall of Nemery’s regime, but the future of the prisoners is still uncertain. Public opinion is not strongly in favour of amputation, although Hassan el Turabi’s Islamic National Front has called for speedy execution of the sentences, in its paper, “El Arya" (The Flag). Prison authorities have been unable to find Government doctors willing to “supervise” the procedure, and, unlike officials under Nemery, they refuse to accept volunteers. Furthermore, the authorities 'claim that their amputation “equipment” was removed by the hordes who stormed Kober prison during the April revolt. Section 26 of the recently signed Transitional Constitution pays lip service to the United Nations

Declaration on Human Rights, condemning .cruel or inhuman penalties, or punishments that destroy human dignity. ,■ The constitution also mentions Sharia as a source of law, however, so the situation needs clarifying, according to a Sudanese lawyer, Tahs Ibrahim. General Swaneddahab’s transitional military Government cannot be expected to abolish Sharia entirely before next April’s proposed elections. A High Court challenge could force the Government to declare as unconstitutional such punishments as amputation, stoning, lashing, and crucifixion, however. Meanwhile, victims of Nemery’s laws have formed the Sudanese Amputees Organisation in a bid to get some assistance from the caretaker Government. The amputees say that they have rio way of earning a living, and that some of them may resort to crime if their situation cannot be improved. “The Department of Social Welfare has been unable to help us,” a spokesman explained. “We are sent on a wild goose chase from office to office. If we are ‘lucky,’ staff do a quick whip around and hand us the proceeds; but this is charity, not compensation, and we are not beggars. We cannot survive on handouts and nor can our families.” It is not surprising to find a Sudanese Government body without sufficient funds to do its work. Nor is it surprising that some charities see the issue as “politically sensitive,” and are reluctant

to help; but for the amputees, it is only another link in the chain of injustice and victimisation which has characterised their case from the beginning. Nemery’s judges came mainly from the Sharia courts already in existence. Before the September laws, they had dealt only with marriage, divorce, and inheritance disputes for Muslims. Prisoners who appealed for mercy often had their sentences increased, in some cases from amputation of the right hand only, to cross limb amputation. Court records show that more than 300 men and youths were sentenced to amputation from September, 1983, to April, 1985. At least 20 per cent of these are cross limb amputees. Most are under 25, some are Muslim, some are Christian. Few have had more than an elementary education. Exact figures of how many amputations were actually performed (as opposed to sentences handed down) are impossible to obtain, but there is little reason to believe that many were spared, and the fate of the 50 prisoners in Kober has still to be decided. Some amputees have been welcomed back by their families, others cannot face the “shame” and live instead in shelters made of grass mats and sacking, alongside Khartoum’s numerous urban destitute. On the streets, their disfigurement brands them as criminals, and they suffer prejudice from citizens and harassment from police. Some amputees have opted to live in the prison compound, claiming life is worse outside, and that at least they can be sure of a meal.