A special criminal court for the trial of SPLM-North detainees from Blue Nile incidents at a sitting in Sinja of Sennar state on Tuesday dropped charges against Juma Hamid Mansour and subsequently ordered for his release.

Tijani Hassan, a member of the defence team, said the court completed examination of Juma Hamid who was accused under the case number 5276 on Monday. He revealed that the court ordered for his immediate release because of the lack of the evidence.

Several other accused were charged under articles 51-50-21 of the penal code of 1991. They were named as Sheikh Ali Alnur, Abdullah Elzein, Alsir Elzaki, Musa Jahallah, Saddam Abbas, Ali Idris, Nabil Taha, Ali Tifel, Elnur Jakum, and Hassan Suleiman Musa.

According to the defence team, the Blue Nile accused were also charged under articles 6-5 of the anti-terrorism law of 2002.

The lawyer explained, however, that the court had dropped certain other charges brought under the 1991 penal code, including articles that punish crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as a charge brought under article 26 of the arms and ammunition law.

The source also confirmed that the court had dropped the accusation against Alrashid Alomda Khojeli and released him immediately. The prosecution also cancelled the accusation against Azrag Altom, Alfaki Badel Fafketo and Sadig Baro who had been charged under articles 189- 191-130-21 of the penal code, and were released from El Roseires prison.

Lawyers representing the allegedly SPLM-N-linked detainees are detailed from the Sudanese Organization for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms.