Former Blue Nile State governor and leader of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Malik Agar, his deputy Yassir Arman and 16 other leaders of the group have been sentenced to death by hanging.

Some 47 others were given life sentences for their involvement in incidents against the government in the Blue Nile State, the official Radio Omdurman reported on Friday.

According to the report, which was also carried by the pro-government Sudanese Media Centre, the verdicts were announced by a special tribunal in Singah, capital of neighbouring Sennar State.

The tribunal, led by Judge Abdul Monim Younis, tried the SPLM-N leaders for staging an armed rebellion in the Blue Nile State and convicted them of war against the government, undermining the Constitution and murder.

Agar, Arman and all others, except one, who were sentenced to death, were tried in absentia.
The court acquitted 31 other SPLM-N members for lack of evidence.

The radio said that the sentences were announced by the tribunal under heavy security measures in the presence of a large number of relatives of the accused.