Sudan’s Hemedti Reveals Receiving Death Threats

Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo | Getty Images
Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo | Getty Images
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Sudan’s Hemedti Reveals Receiving Death Threats

Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo | Getty Images
Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo | Getty Images

Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, accused unnamed parties of threatening his life and warned against gold trafficking mafias and groups that are working to put a stoke in the wheel of the country’s economy.

Hemedti, speaking on the occasion of exporting two tons of gold and inaugurating the Sudanese Gold Exchange, said that there are parties working to disrupt the progress of the Sudanese economy.

Hemedti accused the ‘mafia’ of working to lower the value of the Sudanese pound and of buying foreign currency at any price.

“The country is controlled by a ‘mafia,’ a huge mob, and we must fight this mafia because the country’s progress is at stake,” Hemedti said.

It is worth noting that Hemedti heads the emergency economic committee which was established last March to help the country’s economy recover from a downturn. The committee is tasked with undertaking strict and decisive measures to help fix economic imbalances.

Hemedti warned groups he said had delivered life threats against him and said they were working to destroy the country, its social fabric, and unity. He vowed to stand up to these groups and to fight them no matter what.

Hemedti called on confronting the mafias and gangs in the country who are working to sabotage progress and to present them to trial. He also warned of plans to divide Sudan.

He violently attacked those criticizing his position as head of the emergency economic committee.

Hemedti reaffirmed that he doesn’t support any political party and that his only target was to save the country from collapsing.

He called on uniting the national front in the fight against corruption, criticizing companies that work in mining gold and which evade taxes and deny the economy the proceeds of exports.

Hemedti revealed steps that include strict policies to prevent tampering and smuggling gold, starting with the activation of the principle of accounting, reviewing laws and legislations related to gold production and export, and reviewing licenses of foreign concession companies.



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.