Subject: 'Cross amputation' of sixteen-year-old in Sudan

A recent Amnesty International bulletin reports that a court in Sudan has imposed a sentence of 'cross amputation' (i.e. amputation of the right hand and the left foot) on a sixteen-year-old suspected of armed assault. If this judgment is upheld, it will be carried out forthwith.

The punishment of amputation is in essence torture and a brutal violation of human rights, while Sudan has ratified numerous conventions protecting human rights and condemning torture. Such sentences are not uncommon in a country in which the judicial system and the penal code have also incorporated provisions of Islamic law (Sharia).

What steps will the Commission take to exert pressure on the Sudanese Government to suspend the judgment concerned and abolish torture so that Sudan complies with the conventions on the protection of human rights to which that country is a signatory?