A military court affiliated with the Fourth Infantry Division has sentenced a prominent civil society activist and head of the Blue Nile Civil Society Initiative, Ali Hago, to prison for communicating with the Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces, a Sudanese umbrella group also known as Taqaddum.
Tagaddum is a coalition of civil society, political parties, youth, vocational and feminist groups working towards bolstering democracy and human rights in Sudan. The body is led by former prime minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdok.
The coalition has been active in recent months to help end the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is being accused by the military government of supporting the RSF.
A member of the Emergency Group, Rihab Mubarak Sid Ahmed, revealed to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that Hago had been arrested two weeks earlier.
“Military intelligence arrested activist Ali Hago two weeks ago. He was tried in a military court and sentenced to six months in prison,” he said.
Ahmed further explained that after the incident was publicized, the military authorities transferred Ali Hago to the Central Division Court in Damazin, where a civilian judge, who reduced the sentence to three months in prison, retried him.
“Ali Hago is a significant civil activist with a substantial impact on civil work in the Blue Nile region,” he added.
Meanwhile, human rights activist and lawyer Al-Moez Hadra affirmed that under the Sudanese constitution, it was illegal to try any civilian in a military court.
Hadra added: “The court committed two violations: trying a civilian and conducting the trial without any criminal offense being committed.”