Arabic version: محكمة استئناف سنار تستعد لإصدار الحكم

According to Allafrica, the Sennar Court of Appeal was due to convene a special Thursday morning session to deliver its verdict in the case involving a Sennar woman referred to by Radio Dabanga as “the victim.” The court, sitting at the city’s court complex under Judge Abdullah Omar, was scheduled to consider the case after the Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed by the victim’s defence lawyers.

The case concerns the alleged gang rape of the woman, who was in her twenties, by three men in Sennar. The men allegedly threatened and used violence against her. The Sennar General Court convicted two defendants of rape under Article 149 of the 1991 Criminal Act and sentenced them to three years in prison from 18 December 2025. A third defendant received 100 lashes.

The initial ruling prompted reactions from legal and human-rights circles and in the media, with critics describing the sentences as lenient. Lawyer Abu Obeida Hassan said on social media that Article 149 prescribed life imprisonment for rape and argued that the judge lacked discretion to reduce that punishment. The source said the case included judicial confessions, a forensic medical report and testimony from the forensic doctor.

Separately, the Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a six-month prison sentence and an SDG 5bn fine against the victim’s mother, Hawa Omar Osman Saleh. The case was brought by lawyer Mohammed Abdelrahman Qurashi, who accused her of damaging his reputation after she criticised on social media an appeal he had filed in her daughter’s case. The family said she had already served three months and could not pay the fine. A separate contempt-of-court case filed by the trial judge against the mother remained under consideration, with no ruling issued.