A special emergency court is preparing to try the SPLM-N rebel leader Malik Agar in absentia along with other defendants affiliated to the insurgency in Blue Nile, sources in Sudan told Radio Tamazuj.

Malik Agar became governor of Blue Nile after the 2005 peace agreement and was returned to the position with a win in the 2010 election. He was then ousted by presidential decree at the outbreak of conflict in the state in September 2011, and replaced by a military governor. He has since become chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, a loose alliance of armed movements operating in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The court, headed by Judge Al Balola Abdel Faraj, received this week 84 files on charges to be brought in relation to the events in Blue Nile state since 2011. Preparations are underway for the trial to begin in April.  

Civilian and military defendants are accused of violating provisions of the Sudanese Penal Code of 1991, Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, and the Emergency Law of 1997. These accusations include banditry, fomenting war against the country, and destruction of public and private properties.

“Seventeen (17) of the defendants will be tried in absentia, the top one being the renegade Malik Agar, the leader of the SPLM-N, under article 134 of criminal code of 1991,” a legal source confirmed.

In a related development, the delegation of the Sudanese Lawyers for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms were expected to meet SPLM-N detainees held in Sennar, Sinja and Roseires prisons on Thursday. The delegation met also with the head of judiciary and the competent judge in addition to the head of the investigation committee.

Al Tajani Hassan, the lead lawyer in the group, said that after the release of 23 detainees recently there are remaining 84 defendants out of a group originally 113 in number.

“We met with the competent authorities to know when and where will the court hearing be as well as to see the witnesses and the prosecutor,” Hassan stated.

The legal team has visited the two states of Sennar and Blue Nile several times in relation to these cases.

Besides Al Tajani Hassan, other lawyers on the team include, Saed Ahmed Madawi, Islam Omer, Saleh Idris, Maiz Mohammed Ahamed, Hamza Khalid, and Abbas Mohammed Al Tahir.

File photo: Malik Agar, then governor of Blue Nile, with US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration, 19 August 2009.