Sudan accuses US court of violating international law [Archives:2007/1073/Local News]

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August 2 2007

By: Yemen Times Staff and Agencies
KHARTOUM, July 30 ) As a reaction to the USS Cole US court verdict issued last week, Sudan said the United States had no right to try another sovereign state. Sudan announced it would appeal the verdict that ordered Khartoum to pay some $8 million to the families of U.S. sailors killed in the bombing of an American naval destroyer seven years ago in Yemen. Seventeen US sailors died and 39 more were injured in the attack off the coast of Yemen.

The figure was determined to cover the economic losses of the families according to the death on the High Seas Act, a 1920 statute. The judge calculated the amount the families should receive by multiplying the salary of the sailors by the number of years they would have continued to work.

Sudan's Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi said his ministry would review the court verdict and ask Sudan's lawyers to challenge it.

“The ruling violates international law. We are a sovereign state and we cannot be tried in a U.S. court e had nothing to do with the bombing of the Cole. We neither took part nor incited it