Sudan defense minister condoles family of man convicted of killing US diplomat
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May 9, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese defense minister Abdel-Rahim
Mohamed Hussein paid a visit to the family of a man who was sentenced
to death after being convicted of assassinating a US diplomat more
than three years ago.
JPEG - 35.5 kb
Sudan’s Minister of Defence Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein (L) and
Mohanad Osman Yousif Mohamed (R) who is one of the men convicted in
assassination of a USAID officer in Khartoum three years ago
The 32-years old Mohanad Osman Yousif Mohamed was one of four men who
were accused of firing fatal shots on John Granville, who worked for
the US Agency for International Development (USAID) , and his Sudanese
driver Abdel-Rahman Abbas Rahma on 2008 New Years Eve.
The men are believed to be belonging to the Islamic militant group
Ansar al-Tawhid which claimed responsibility for the killing. In 2009
a Sudanese court ordered all of them hanged to death after finding
them guilty of murdering Granville and Rahma.
But the convicts managed last year to break out of Kober prison which
is considered a maximum security facility. Sudanese authorities said
the men escaped through sewer pipes but the explanation was met with
deep skepticism from observers and particularly those familiar with
the design of Kober prison.
A Sudanese journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity from
Khartoum told Sudan Tribune last year that "no one in the entire
country believes what the police said about how they escaped".
"They [fugitives] could not have done it without some sort of
facilitation from the government. No one has ever managed to do it
before. It appears that they have some sort of link with officials
inside the government who made this possible. I would not be surprised
if the government was actually behind killing Granville in the first
place for political reasons".
Last week the family of Mohamed revealed that he was killed in Somalia
but did not release any further details except to say that this was
communicated to them by the group he was part of. Mourners flocked the
house of his family in the Sudanese capital and some even chanted
"Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest!)
The independent Al-Tayar newspaper said that the Sudanese defense
minister was one of the mourners who went to pay his condolences. He
refused to answer reporters’ questions saying that this is a " very
private visit".
Mohamed’s father was a former minister in the government of president
Omer Hassan Al-Bashir but it is not clear if that is the link that
prompted the top military official to visit. The father described his
son as a martyr and defended the killing of Granville.
"I am calling for the government to release the Islamic youth from
prison and also for the court to cancel the decision against Mohanad,
because they were answering President [Omer Hassan] Al-Bashir’s call
when he told them to fight international troops in Darfur," he said.
For a decade after Bashir came to power in an Islamist-backed military
coup in 1989, Sudan became a notorious refuge for militant Islamists.
These included Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was killed by
US special forces in Pakistan last weekend and who was based in
Khartoum between 1991 and 1996, where he ran a thriving construction
business and built mujahideen training camps.
But in the last ten years Khartoum has stepped up its counter
terrorism cooperation with the U.S. and denounced its support for
militant groups.
Washington promised Khartoum that it will remove Sudan from list of
countries that sponsor terrorism as early as July to reward its
recognition of South Sudan referendum results.
(ST)
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