Sudan to exhume mass graves to identify bodies

The committee set up in Sudan to investigate missing persons has decided on the exhumation of mass graves to identify the bodies and determine the causes of death. Fresh autopsies will also be carried out. According to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the committee made the decision after examining reports, documents and witness statements.

Samples of the human remains shall be taken, in addition to samples of radiological and anthropological characteristics of cadavers, in order to examine the genetic fingerprint and send it to the General Administration of Forensic Evidence. The causes of death, the age of the victim and the date of death shall also then be determined.

Photographs of the corpses shall be taken and documented along with the evidence, clues and proof of identification. The procedure shall comply with the standards of the International Committee for Missing Persons. All bodies which remain unidentified will be allocated a special identification number.

According to the Head of the investigative committee, Al-Tayeb Al-Abbasi, it was formed after the dispersal of the sit-in outside the General Command headquarters in Khartoum led to the discovery of a number of bodies buried nearby. The bodies were apparently buried in an indecent and undignified way.

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