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Sudan’s Prosecution Refuses to Release Bashir and his Aides

Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir sits guarded inside a cage at the courthouse where he is facing corruption charges, in Khartoum, Sudan August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir sits guarded inside a cage at the courthouse where he is facing corruption charges, in Khartoum, Sudan August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s Prosecution Refuses to Release Bashir and his Aides

Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir sits guarded inside a cage at the courthouse where he is facing corruption charges, in Khartoum, Sudan August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir sits guarded inside a cage at the courthouse where he is facing corruption charges, in Khartoum, Sudan August 19, 2019. (Reuters)

Sudan’s general prosecution said the decision to release of prisoners amid the coronavirus outbreak does not include former president Omar al-Bashir and his aides.

It informed their families that they will not be released because they are facing charges without the possibility of bail.

The general prosecutor met with the representatives of the former regime and listened to their demands for their release or putting them under house arrest.

The country's top prosecutor, Taj al-Ser al-Hebr said the release order applies to convicts, not members of the former regime, who are facing charges without bail.

Following Bashir’s ouster in a revolution in April 2019, a number of regime figures have been detained in Kober Prison in Khartoum, including Bashir, former First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Assistant Nafi Ali Nafi, former Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh, former head of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Ahmed Haroun, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Congress Party Ali Al Haj Mohammed.

Some are being held over their 1989 coup that brought Bashir to power, in addition to other charges related to human rights violations and corruption.

Meanwhile, a major prison witnessed rioting that left one prisoner dead and the intervention of police to restore order. The violence was blamed on the decision to release prisoners as a precaution over the coronavirus, prompting outrage among inmates not included in the order.

A government statement said prisoners had rioted in the prison, forcing the police to intervene and use tear gas and “necessary force” to contain such situations. Order was restored and no prisoners managed to escape.

Sudan released 4,217 prisoners on Wednesday as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, state news agency SUNA said, citing a health ministry official who said those freed had been tested for possible infections.

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Arab World

Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”