March 27
SUDAN:
Sudan AG expects death sentence for coup plotters
Sudan's attorney-general said on Sunday he expected 72 men charged with
attempting a coup in Khartoum would be sentenced to death because the
evidence against them was so clear.
A number of the men are members of the opposition Islamist Popular
Congress (PCP), whose leader Hassan al-Turabi was jailed last September
after the authorities accused his party of plotting to overthrow the
government.
Attorney General Mohamed Farid said Turabi would be released with all
other political prisoners as soon as emergency law was lifted in Sudan --
a step officials expect to follow the promulgation of a new constitution
around May.
Farid said the 72 men, whose full trial will begin on April 2, had
confessed to a legal committee in his office to plotting to overthrow the
government. The men are charged with waging war against the state.
"I expect that in these cases there is clear enough evidence and I expect
that the death sentence will be issued for them," Farid told Reuters in
his office.
He stressed the sentence would be up to the court to decide. "Whether the
court will decide this and whether they will implement the sentence after
is up to them."
He said his office would not make any specific recommendation to the
court.
NO EXECUTIONS SINCE 1995
Farid said no one had been executed for any crime since he took office in
1995. Most convictions for political crimes have resulted in prison
sentences and most of the prisoners were released before they served the
full sentence, he said.
Farid, who put the case together, said he had personally listened to the
confessions of the accused, who also led investigators to 5 arms caches
all over Khartoum. He denied there was any torture, as the defendants
claim.
"They were eating and drinking and praying with us here ... There was no
evidence of any torture or beating of them," he said.
In the case of Shamseddin Idriss, whose death certificate, seen by
Reuters, showed broken limbs and a blow to the head after his detention by
state security forces and before any charges were brought against him, he
said a committee was investigating the matter.
He said most of the 72 were members of the PCP, which the party denies. It
says most are boys from Sudan's western Darfur region and only a few are
members.
"All the fundamental players, the leaders, are from the Popular Congress,"
Farid said.
PCP leader Turabi is still in jail without charge. Farid said this could
continue for as long as state security forces felt was necessary.
There was not enough evidence to link Turabi directly to the attempted
coup in September or a similar one in March 2004, but state security had
information that he was indirectly planning the coup, he said.
"I expect that when emergency law is lifted all political prisoners will
be released, including the sheikh (Turabi)."
(source: Reuters)
ENGLAND:
DEATH ROW SCOT WANTS TO SEE HIS SONS
A Scot who spent 2 years on death row in a Nigerian prison is planning an
emotional reunion with his 2 sons.
Ian Millar, 56, is back in Scotland after his conviction for murdering his
girlfriend was quashed 2 weeks ago.
And he is now living with his brother Nigel, and his wife Carol, at their
home in Helensburgh.
The former banker, who developed diabetes while in prison, has been
undergoing medical tests since returning home. But despite using crutches
to walk, Ian is eager to see his sons Scott and Mark, who live in Sweden
with his ex-wife Karin.
Last night, Nigel said: 'His main concern is keeping in contact with his 2
sons, who are now in their mid-20s.
'He missed seeing them a lot while he was behind bars, he wrote them
letters. I would be very surprised if they didn't want to come and see
their father very soon.'
Ian, originally from Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, went to Nigeria in
1987.
There, he lived in a luxury home with his own staff.
He was convicted of killing Ann Marie Gale, 43, at their house in Lagos in
April 2002.
She died shortly after Ian Consultants Ltd - the business the pair founded
together - ran into money troubles.
Ian was falsely accused of throttling former actress Ann Marie before
hiding her body under the floor for a week.
Nigel, 60, says it will take time for his brother, who is still too weak
to talk about his experiences, to recover from his ordeal.
He said: 'It has just been a horrendous experience.
'He went through the mill for three years but he's come out of it a free
man.'
(source: Glasgow Sunday Mail)
