By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Sudanese court has upheld the death sentence of four Islamists who were convicted of killing John Granville, an American Diplomat, along with his Sudanese driver, Abdel Rahman Abbas. .

The two men were shot in the early morning hours on January 1st just after a New Year’s Eve party.  At the time, Granville was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The four men were convicted last year in the Sudanese capital and were sentenced to death by hanging after the court upheld their death sentences.

During the trial, Judge Sayed Ahmend Al-Badry recited quotes from Islamic texts denouncing any killings regardless of if they are Muslims.  After reminding the men that it is a great sin to take another person’s life, he announced his verdict.

Calling Granville an “infidel,” the men said that Muslims should not be executed for killing non-believers.  In June, following their conviction, the men raised their hands and shouted slogans as they walked out of the Sudanese court.

Originally the death sentence was passed in June, although under Sudanese law the family of the murder victim has a few options.  They can either request the death penalty, forgive, or ask for compensation.

On Sunday, the letter from Granville’s mother was read aloud to the court which specified that she wanted the four men to be executed in order to “safeguard the lives of others from those who killed her beloved son.”  There was no option of life imprisonment.

“Her wish was to apply death by retribution and the court accordingly passed death sentence by hanging,” said Granville’s lawyer, Taha Ibrahim.  “It is the legal sentence, it is proper, it is according to the law and it will be executed.”

The convicted men maintain their innocence saying that their videotaped confessions were taken under torturous situations.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Sudanese to Hang Over U.S. Killing – 12 October 2009

VOA – U.S. Diplomat’s Killers to Hang for Murder in Sudan – 12 October 2009

AFP – Slain US Diplomat’s Mother Seeks Sudan Killers’ Death – 11 October 2009

The Washington Post – Sudanese Convicted of U.S. Murder Dismiss Defense – 11 October 2009