HUDO Centre 22nd January 2017 Update (14) COURT TRIAL OF NISS/SUDAN AGAINST PASTORS AND THE ACTIVIST This update is a summary of five court sessions that were conducted between 19th December 2016 and 9th January 2017. The sessions were before Justice Dr. Osama M. Abdalla at Khartoum Centre court and all parties were present. During those sessions, three accusing witnesses and two defense witnesses delivered their testimonies. The witnesses were questioned by both lawyers’ Panel and the judge. The judge also examined the defendants. On 9th January 2017, the twentieth court session was held and the judge adjourned court after instructing both panels of lawyers to submit their submission before 23rd January 2017, the day he had scheduled to make the court judgments/Ruling. Summary of the sixteen court session On 19th December 2016, the sixteen court session started at 12:30 pm and the main activity was testimony by the fourth and fifth accusing witnesses, both of them are soldiers in NISS. They informed court that they witnessed the searching of first defendant’s luggage. By 01:30 pm the session was over and the next session date was announced by the judge. Summary of the seventeenth court session On 26th December 2016, the 17th court session started at 12:45 pm and the main activity was testimony by the 6th and 7th accusing witnesses. The sixth (6th) witness was Mr. Benyamin Breima Awad, a 68 year old teacher and he is one the people who attended the Addis Ababa conference. The seventh (7th) witness was Ms. /Dr. Rehab Mubarak Hassan, a 50 year old legal consultant at ministry of foreign affairs. The conclusion of their testimonies was; o The 6th accusing witness was invited to the conference by the 2nd defendant. In his testimony, he declared that, the 2nd defendant displayed the photo of the burnt student with comments that the burning was a result of the student’s conversion to Christianity. He also informed court that the purpose of the conference was to conduct prayers for Sudan peace. o The 7th witness agreed that, Dafaalla Alhaj Yousif1 committee which was formed by the Sudanese president Omer Albashir had mentioned that “there are human rights violations in Sudan”. By end of the 7th witnesses, the accusation panel was contented by those witnesses and closed the accusation. The judge adjourned the court to the next session. 1 A fact finding committee for Darfur formed in a year 2004, in which the first defendant’s lawyer is a member. 1