Sudan’s Bashir Gets 2 Years for Corruption

FILE PHOTO: Sudan's former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir smiles as he is seen inside a cage at the courthouse, in Khartoum, Sudan August 31, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir smiles as he is seen inside a cage at the courthouse, in Khartoum, Sudan August 31, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
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Sudan’s Bashir Gets 2 Years for Corruption

FILE PHOTO: Sudan's former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir smiles as he is seen inside a cage at the courthouse, in Khartoum, Sudan August 31, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir smiles as he is seen inside a cage at the courthouse, in Khartoum, Sudan August 31, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

A court in Sudan convicted ex-president Omar al-Bashir of money laundering and corruption on Saturday, sentencing him to two years in a rehabilitation facility.

The presiding judge said Bashir, 75, was being sent to the reform facility, rather than a prison, on account of his age.

The verdict came eight months after the military deposed him during unprecedented mass protests against his three-decade rule.

At the start of the trial, judge Sadeq Abdelrahman said authorities had seized 6.9 million euros as well as $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds ($128,000) from Bashir's home.

Bashir's lawyer Mohamed al-Hassan told reporters the ex-president's defense does not see the trial as a legal case, but as "a political" one.

The trial does not relate to charges Bashir faces at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Bashir has been wanted by the ICC for years for his role in the Darfur war that broke out in 2003 and which left around 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced.

After Bashir was toppled, ICC prosecutors requested he stand trial for the killings in Darfur.

Army generals who initially seized power after the president's fall refused to hand over the 75-year-old.

But Sudan's umbrella protest movement, which now has significant representation on a sovereign council that in August became the country's highest executive authority -- recently said it has no objection to his extradition.
 
Separately, on November 12, Sudanese authorities filed charges against Bashir and some of his aides for "plotting" the 1989 coup that brought him to power.

In May, Sudan's attorney general said Bashir had been charged with the deaths of those killed during the anti-regime demonstrations that led to his ouster, without specifying when he would face trial.



Syria to Take Time Organizing National Dialogue, Foreign Minister Says

 Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria to Take Time Organizing National Dialogue, Foreign Minister Says

 Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria will take its time to organize a landmark national dialogue conference to ensure that the preparations include all segments of Syrian society, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on Tuesday, according to state media.

The conference is meant to bring together Syrians from across society to chart a new path for the nation after opposition factions ousted autocratic President Bashar al-Assad. Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for 54 years, fled to Russia.

"We will take our time with the national dialogue conference to have the opportunity to form a preparatory committee that can accommodate the comprehensive representation of Syria from all segments and governments," Shibani said.

Diplomats and visiting envoys had in recent days told Syria's new rulers it would be better not to rush the conference to improve its chances of success, rather than yield mixed results, two diplomats said.

The new government has not yet decided on a date for the conference, sources previously told Reuters, and several members of opposition groups have recently said that they had not received invitations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday time was needed for Syria to pick itself up again and rebuild following Assad's overthrow, and that the damage to infrastructure from 13 years of civil war looked worse than anticipated.

Since Assad's fall on Dec. 8, Türkiye has repeatedly said it would provide any help needed to help its neighbor rebuild, and has sent its foreign minister, intelligence chief, and an energy ministry delegation to discuss providing it with electricity.

Türkiye shares a 911-km (565-mile) border with Syria and has carried out several cross-border incursions against Kurdish YPG militants it views as terrorists.