Khartoum -

The Sudanese Forensic Medicine Authority announced the closure of the mortuary of Bashair Hospital, south of the capital, Khartoum, to avoid an imminent health and environmental disaster, after hundreds of corpses were decomposed there.

Al Jazeera Net obtained shocking photos that could not be published for its outrage, from inside the closed mortuary, showing the accumulation of bodies in inhumane conditions.

Last April, the resistance committees (entities that emerged in the context of protests calling for the restoration of the civilian path) had organized a sit-in in front of the "Academic Hospital Mortuary" south of the capital, after hundreds of corpses had decomposed and smelt foul smells.

Protesters believe that the capital's morgues contain some bodies of missing persons who died during the so-called dispersal of the General Command sit-in on 3 June 2019.

During these events, about 200 protesters were killed, in addition to large numbers of wounded and missing, according to unofficial reports.

While government statistics estimated the victims at about 85 people only.

And the Bashair mortuary joined the academic mortuary, which was closed by the Public Prosecution last year, according to the testimony of the Forensic Medicine Authority, so that the Omdurman Hospital mortuary remains alone in providing its services to the most densely populated Sudanese city.

Hisham Zine El Abidine talked about a large accumulation of corpses inside the morgues of the capital (communication sites)

lest the evidence be blotted out

The Director of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Khartoum State, Hisham Zain Al-Abidin, reveals a large congestion inside the capital's morgues, after the Public Prosecution's decisions not to bury unidentified persons since 2019 for fear of obliterating evidence that may be related to the dispersal of the sit-in of the General Command.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Zain Al-Abidin complains about the presence of about a thousand bodies inside the Bashair Hospital mortuary, distributed between refrigerators, halls, and even corridors and offices, in conditions described as inhumane.

According to this official, the capacity of each individual mortuary is estimated to be about 100 to 150 bodies, while the capital's mortuaries house about 2,300 unidentified bodies.

Zain al-Abidin added that the horrific accumulation of corpses, the continuous electricity cuts and the high temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, resulted in the decomposition and rotting of the corpses, with the emergence of mice that live on human remains and remains.

He added, "Neither humanity, nor the teachings of the Islamic religion, nor the Sudanese values ​​accept these conditions, which prompted us to issue the closure of the Bashaer Morgue, in the presence of the Attorney General and representatives of the ministries of health and justice."

The Director of the Forensic Medicine Department in Khartoum complains of great pressure facing the Omdurman Hospital mortuary (the only one currently operating), which may lead to its closure at a later stage if the situation is not remedied.

Reflects the absence of the state

The burial of unidentified bodies, which are believed to have criminal causes behind their death, without an autopsy and a forensic report, disrupts the course of justice processes and the loss of the relatives of the dead from any opportunity to take a farewell look at them before they are buried.

The head of the "December Revolution Martyrs' Families Organization", Farah Abbas, warns that there is a desire on the part of parties in the authority to obscure the facts about the missing people who dispersed the sit-in of the General Command.

Abbas, in his interview with Al Jazeera Net, questioned the reasons for the state's failure to assume its responsibilities in dissecting this large number of bodies, and burying them in a proper manner.

"The accumulation of corpses and their decomposition to the point of closing the morgues illustrates the state of non-state we live in, and shows to what extent Sudanese blood is licensed, in a way that does not enable the families of the dead to know their children and the fate of their killers," he says.

In the same context, the external spokesman for the Khartoum Resistance Committees, Hossam Ali, expresses his fear that "the perpetrators will escape in the incident of the General Command's sit-in, and the events that followed the army's seizure of power on October 25, 2021."

In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Ali warns that there is a tendency to bury the bodies outside the framework of the law, to obliterate evidence related to the involvement of military personnel in the killing of peaceful protesters, as he put it.

According to the follow-ups of the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, which is a parallel entity to the Sudanese Doctors Union, 95 people have been killed in the anti-government protests as of the morning of May 19.

Ali demands an autopsy of the corpses in hospitals, a forensic report on the circumstances of her departure, and the preservation of copies of the DNA before burial in known graves according to serial numbers.


Difficulties in dissection

For his part, the Director of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Khartoum State strongly denies the accusations against them regarding the investigations to disperse the sit-in of the General Command, stressing the competence and professionalism of the authority's employees.

However, Zain al-Abidin goes back and points out to the great difficulties encountered in the course of their work as a result of government decisions, and the economic conditions experienced by the health sector, which prevented the autopsy of thousands of corpses, especially after a large number of them reached the stage of decomposition.

In turn, human rights defender lawyer Ayman Mahmoud told Al Jazeera Net that the problem of the morgues has been greatly politicized, in a way that compromised the performance of forensic medicine bodies.

According to Mahmoud, the solution lies in activating the work of the technical committee formed by the Sovereignty Council last April to bury the unidentified bodies.

He stresses that this requires taking all medical and legal measures in the presence of the relevant authorities, including the families and committees of the dead and missing.

The mortuary of the Academic Hospital before closing due to the accumulation of corpses (Al-Jazeera)

criminal suspicions

Since the announcement of the closure of the Bashaer Hospital morgue, questions have escalated about the effects of the move on the work of the Independent Investigation Committee to disperse the sit-in of the General Command.

The head of the committee, lawyer Nabil Adeeb, acknowledges that the bodies were found in abnormal conditions "as a result of the suspicion of criminal activity."

Adeeb told Al Jazeera Net, that they addressed the competent authorities not to hide the unidentified bodies, before returning to them and taking the necessary samples.

In turn, the Director of the Forensic Medicine Department in Khartoum calls on the authorities to provide the necessary budgets to empty the mortuaries in the morgues, rehabilitate and maintain their headquarters, provide them with new refrigerators, and at a later stage increase their numbers.

Zain al-Abidin says that not speeding up the completion of treatments will result in all morgues being out of service, health and environmental disasters, and disruptions in the course of justice.