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.



Gaza's Health Ministry Says the Palestinian Death Toll from the War Has Surpassed 46,000

People search the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on January 8, 2025 as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continues. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
People search the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on January 8, 2025 as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continues. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Gaza's Health Ministry Says the Palestinian Death Toll from the War Has Surpassed 46,000

People search the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on January 8, 2025 as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continues. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
People search the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on January 8, 2025 as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continues. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday, as the conflict raged into a 16th month with no end in sight.
The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians, said The Associated Press.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza. Israeli authorities believe at least a third of them were killed in the initial attack or have died in captivity.
The war has flattened large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its 2.3 million people, with many forced to flee multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials.
In recent weeks, Israel and Hamas have appeared to inch closer to an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. But the indirect talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled over the past year, and major obstacles remain.