Family of disabled Sudan protester file petition to revoke legal immunity for military leaders

Protester Mohammed Mujtaba was shot twice on 3 June when paramilitary forces stormed a peaceful pro-democracy sit-in in Khartoum.

The bullet wounds have permanently handicapped Mujtaba and caused him to freeze his engineering degree at Rabat University, his father Ammar al-Sajad said.

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The petition calls for legal immunity to be stripped from Burhan and Hemedti, as well as Transitional Military Council member Lieutenant General Shams al-Din Kabbashi and Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta.

The four leaders "must take criminal responsibility" for the massacre, al-Sajad told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service, pointing out that the forces which assaulted protesters were regular forces using military vehicles, "not faceless demons or ghosts".

At least 128 people were killed in the massacre, according to the pro-democracy Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors (CCSD).

Dozens more remain missing after bodies were thrown in the Nile.

Protest leaders have asked the new transitional government to prosecute those for the killing of demonstrators since protests began in December last year.

A new, independent investigation into the 3 June massacre was launched in September, and is set to take six months.

Al-Sajad said his family had resorted petitioning the court as says the investigation is unlikely to lead to prosecutions.

It has been unclear how the new government will hold the RSF and its commander accountable if paramilitary forces are found responsible for the killings.

The RSF is an officialised offshoot of the Janjaweed militias, widely accused of war crimes and genocide in the Darfur conflict.

The paramilitary forces, led by sovereign council member Dagalo, are also accused of rights violations against civilians in Sudan's Blue Nile and South Kordofan conflict zones.