Thirty years did not shake the resolve of the families of the officers executed by former President Omar al-Bashir in April 1990 after a failed coup attempt. Members of these families were arrested and expelled from their jobs, appeared before the courts and some of them immigrated from Sudan, but their determination remained to find the place where the 28 officers were buried.

Last week, the public prosecutor announced the finding of a mass grave containing the remains of officers in a desert area west of Omdurman, the twin city of the capital, Khartoum.

On April 23, 1990, officers attempted to overthrow the Bashir regime less than a year after he came to power through a coup.

"For us, it was a massacre. My husband was killed outside the law and our demand to find their graves remained," said lawyer Fathiya Kampal, 61, who is the widow of the armored corpsman Bashir Abu Deek, 37.

"Our feelings are now mixed, we are relieved to find their graves, but we remember the way they were killed. It is a crime and the perpetrators must be tried, and the martyrs are rehabilitated at a military funeral," added Kampal, a mother of 3 who were children when their father was killed.

 The movement has not stopped

At her home in the south of the capital, Kampal holds a photo of her husband in a military attire, while he was on a training course in the United States. "The last time I saw him was on the 27th of Ramadan. We left his friend's house after we had breakfast, and he didn't take us to the house. He told me that he would be busy for two days and gave me money to buy clothes for my children.

For her, that was the beginning of the nightmare. I woke up the next morning and the neighbors were talking about a failed coup. She rushed to the armored weapon gate near her house, accompanied by the wife of another officer at the same center who participated with her husband in the coup. At the gate, she saw her husband's comrades shun their faces from her. "They knew that our husband would be killed."

The next day, on April 24, 1990, the official radio (Radio Omdurman) announced the execution of 28 officers who staged a failed coup. The radio named the officers, including Lt. Col. Bashir Abu Deek.

"Our movement was born spontaneously, and its mainstay was women, and it also included fathers and sons. The question was about which court they were subjected to and where they were buried. We were annually on the anniversary of their execution, we sometimes meet at a family’s home and times inside a university from universities. In the years of harassment by the regime We met in Cairo. "

high price

For 30 years, families have been asking, "Where are the graves? Where are the mortal remains buried?", And their members paid dearly for their research.

"Some were arrested, others were referred to the judiciary, or they were expelled from their jobs or public jobs. Some of them were forced to emigrate, but they did not give up," said Kampal.

Afaf Mirghani, sister of Colonel Esmat Mirghani, one of the executed officers, was expelled from her work in a bank because of her participation in the family movement.

"30 years old we are looking for their graves. It was a heinous crime. There was no trial. They were not brought before a court and were not interrogated. They were executed 24 hours after their arrest, they were buried in a grave," said lawyer Awatef Mirghani, another officer’s sister, Mirghani, who was trying to hide her tears. One in their clothes, and this violates human dignity. "

During the sit-in by the protest movement against Bashir starting in the end of 2018 in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum, the families of the officers erected a tent reading "Families of the martyrs of 28 Ramadan", the date of their execution.

Bashir was ousted by the army under the pressure of this protest movement in April 2019. Sudan is governed today by a government that includes representatives of the protest movement and military personnel for a transitional period that should end in elections.

The family movement continues its struggle. A booklet prepared by him said that the movement "seeks to restore the democratic rule over which Bashir turned against, to release political prisoners and to bring those who undermined the constitutional order to trial."