Bashir’s Wife Faces Charges of Illicit Enrichment

Bashir’s second wife, Widad Babiker. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Bashir’s second wife, Widad Babiker. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Bashir’s Wife Faces Charges of Illicit Enrichment

Bashir’s second wife, Widad Babiker. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Bashir’s second wife, Widad Babiker. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudan’s Public Prosecution has completed investigations into several financial corruption cases and premeditated murder committed during the rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir. Some lawsuits involve Bashir’s second wife, Widad Babiker, and other leaders who served his regime.

Sudan’s attorney general, Mubarak Mahmoud, has received from the Unlawful and Suspicious Enrichment prosecution the results of investigations led into four cases against prominent figures in the former regime, announced the Public Prosecution in a statement on Wednesday.

Other than Babiker, the cases involve the former governor of Khartoum, the former minister of urban planning, and the ex-official charged with the commission for distributing state revenues.

For Babiker, she faces charges of transgressing and unlawfully owning residential lands and real estate. Babiker has been under house arrest since her release from custody due to health reasons.

In other news, the attorney general visited the new Khartoum prosecution headquarters for empowerment removal and fund recovery and the prosecution headquarters of information crimes and digital investigations.

Mubarak Mahmoud, while inspecting the facilities, reviewed obstacles faced by authorities.

The head of the empowerment removal and funds recovery prosecution, Al-Amthal Abdelfattah, explained that the visit confirms the attorney general’s interest in the progress of work in all prosecutions.

Abdelfattah confirmed that his department, despite being new, is conducting investigations into a large number of lawsuits and that it has recently referred four cases involving suspects who are accused of activities and actions that undermine the constitution.



Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said, prompting strong condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian group Hamas.

The firebrand politician was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.

Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Wednesday’s visit as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas called it a “provocative and dangerous escalation,” saying the visit was “part of the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people.”

“We call on our Palestinian people and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said in a statement.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told AFP the minister “went there because the site was opened (for non-Muslims) after 13 days,” during which access was reserved for Muslims for the festival of Eid al-Fitr and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben-Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.

The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it intends to uphold the status quo at the compound but Palestinian fears about its future have made it a flashpoint for violence.