Sudan court sentences three men to hand amputation for stealing gas cylinders

Khartoum: Three men in Sudan have been sentenced to hand amputation for stealing, making it the first punishment of its kind in nearly a decade.

The three men who are in their 20s were convicted of stealing gas cylinders in Sudan’s most populous city Omdurman.

Although the sentence was handed down two weeks ago by a Sudanese court, the matter has come to light only recently and has raised concerns over Sudan slipping back to a state of extremism following a military takeover in 2021.

Along with being subjected to hand amputation, the three young men were also sentenced to three years in prison for mischief and fined 2,000,000 Sudanese pounds as compensation for theft.

They are currently held at Koper prison in north Khartoum – the capital of Sudan. The sentence will be carried out on an unspecified date. Currently, the prison holds former president Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019 after a public uprising.

“Unfortunately, despite the political change in the country, nothing has changed in terms of the rights of the people, it was a change on the surface,” said Samir Makeen, the lawyer who is representing the three men.

In a statement, a Uganda-based human rights organisation called the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies condemned the sentence saying that the accused were not given a fair trial.

“The trial had taken place without legal representation, [with the] failure of the court to explain to the accused the gravity and penalty of the offences and the reliance of court on the confessions as the only evidence to convict the accused,” the statement added.

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