Publications

Sudan has not ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nor the Convention Against Torture. Sudan maintains both the mandatory and discretionary use of the death penalty for specific enumerated crimes, such as intentional killing, certain drug trafficking offenses, and acts contrary to Islamic law. Although Sudan has restricted the use of the death penalty in certain instances in recent years, such as for offenses related to same-sex conduct and apostasy, the country has nonetheless continued to apply the death penalty since the last Universal Periodic Review. Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment takes place against those detained in prison, and the Government of Sudan continues to impose the death penalty based on confessions extracted through torture. Conditions in Sudanese prisons for people sentenced to death are contrary to the Nelson Mandela rules, with reports documenting inadequate health and food supplies and the shackling of detainees.  

The authors of the report suggest the following recommendations for Sudan: 

• Ratify the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture 

• Impose an immediate moratorium on executions with a view to the ultimate abolition of the death penalty. 

• Eliminate the mandatory death penalty and require all courts to exercise judicial discretion in considering all mitigating circumstances to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed, with the burden of justification placed on imposing the death penalty. 

• Adopt legislation prohibiting courts from considering evidence obtained through the use of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment 

• Establish mechanisms to ensure that all detention facilities comply with the Nelson Mandela Rules. 

• Publish comprehensive data on death sentences, the current death row population, executions, disaggregated by nationality, race/ethnicity, crime of conviction, status of the case, and gender, to reveal whether the death penalty has a disproportionate effect on minority groups, such as individuals from Darfur.