Two Sudanese courts have sentenced 22 suspected Darfur fighters to death by hanging for their alleged involvement in a raid near Khartoum, the capital, in May.
The sentences from two special courts, set up to try those arrested in a crackdown after the May10 assault, bring to 30 the number of alleged members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) condemned to death.
The JEM is an anti-government group based in the Darfur region.
"The court sentenced all the 12 accused to death," Adam Bakr Hassab, one of the defence lawyers, said on Thursday at the special court in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, where the JEM members staged their attack.
Hassab said that one of those sentenced to death is aged 16 - a punishment that would be illegal in Sudan - but the judge "thought the suspect lied about his age".
"The judge found them guilty of the charges against them and gave them one week to appeal the decision," he said.
"This is not fair because we are already at the end of the [working] week. Then we have two days weekend. So we just have five days to appeal against the verdict," Hassab said.
Juvenile courts
In the other court, in Khartoum North, Osama Osman, the judge, found 10 men guilty under Sudanese criminal law and counter-terrorism legislation and referred the cases of three suspected fighters to juvenille courts.
"I sentence you to death by hanging and you have the right to appeal this decision within 15 days," he addressed those standing in the dock.
The condemned, aged around 18 to 25 years old, broke out into loud cries of "God is great" and "thanks be to God", waving their arms in the air.
Saleh Balila, one of the defence lawyers, vowed to appeal against the sentences as quickly as possible.
Sudan has put on trial dozens of suspects over the May attack, the first time that decades of regional conflict between government forces and rebels reached the capital.
Defence lawyers argue that the special courts are unconstitutional and do not guarantee their clients' legal rights.