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KHARTOUM - 26 Mar 2013

218 southern prisoners deported on Bashir’s order

The Sudanese government will deport 218 South Sudanese inmates after an amnesty issued by President Omer Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir, which removed the penalties imposed on them.

Gabriel Deng Akot, the information officer in the South Sudan embassy in Khartoum, said in a press statement that the first batch which left to South Sudan today included 51 people who were serving different judicial sentences in the Sudanese prisons.

He explained that the rest will leave in the coming few days, and praised the release of the inmates. “When we went to inspect the conditions of our people who had been freed, we found them in safe conditions in terms of health and grooming,” he noted.

Akot expressed appreciation for the president for issuing the amnesty order, describing the move as not outside the bounds of the Sudanese spirit of magnanimity and generosity.

“We were surprised by the general amnesty and we consider it as an important step towards building good relations between the two countries, especially after the recent consensus on contentious issues,” the embassy statement read.

Ambassador Mayen Dut and other South Sudanese officials in Khartoum attended the departure ceremony for the first batch of prisoners bound for their homeland.