(SomaliNet) A senior leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is among the eight Darfur rebels sentenced eight to death on Sunday for their involvement in an unprecedented attack on the capital. Chanting for a new Sudan and for justice before the court, the eight rebels including JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim's half brother Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr said they had no reason to ask for leniency. "The court is sentencing all eight accused to death by hanging," said judge Mudathir Rashid Sidahmed. "Death to the government," Ashr shouted as the verdict was read.
Darfuri women at the court protested outside the courtroom but were escorted out by police.
The accused have one week to make their only appeal before President Omar Hassan al-Bashir signs the execution order.
Defence lawyers have petitioned Sudan's Constitutional Court to stop the executions of 30 other alleged rebels sentenced by the anti-terror court formed to try those arrested after the May attack by JEM. A total of 38 have now been sentenced to death in connection with the attack.
The United Nations has also voiced concern that the courts do not meet international standards and urged the appeals court to review the sentences.
| The question unasked: do the *militants* meet int'l standards? |