Sudan sentences ten Darfur rebels to death

A Sudanese court on Wednesday sentenced to death 10 members of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for an unprecedented 2008 attack on the Sudanese capital.

The men were found guilty of involvement in the attack on the Khartoum twin city of Omdurman in May 2008. Three others were acquitted and will be freed, the court said.

Judge Mutasim Tajisir, who announced the verdict, said the men were found guilty of 12 charges, including treason, violence against the state and illegal possession of weapons

"God is Great! JEM is strong! Revolution, revolution until victory!" cried the defendants, dressed in traditional long robes, after hearing the verdict.

Tajisir gave the defendants 10 days to appeal the verdict.

Fifty JEM members have already been sentenced to death over the 2008 attack on Omdurman. None have yet been executed. The court was specially created to try JEM members involved in the attack.

More than 222 people were killed when rebels thrust more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) across the sandy expanse from conflict-torn Darfur in western Sudan to Omdurman, just across the Nile from the presidential palace.

God is Great! JEM is strong! Revolution, revolution until victory

Sudanese defendants

The JEM, the most active rebel group in Darfur, last month said it would no longer hold peace talks with the Sudanese government after Khartoum's expulsion of foreign aid agencies from the war-ravaged region.

The rebel group signed an accord in February with Khartoum on a package of confidence-building measures, paving the way for substantive peace negotiations.

But it said peace talks were no longer possible after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on March 4 for war crimes in Darfur.