Sudanese Public Prosecution Detains Two Senior Forensic Specialists

Part of the popular demonstrations that took place in Khartoum in December 2020 in commemoration of the revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir’s regime (AP)
Part of the popular demonstrations that took place in Khartoum in December 2020 in commemoration of the revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir’s regime (AP)
TT
20

Sudanese Public Prosecution Detains Two Senior Forensic Specialists

Part of the popular demonstrations that took place in Khartoum in December 2020 in commemoration of the revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir’s regime (AP)
Part of the popular demonstrations that took place in Khartoum in December 2020 in commemoration of the revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir’s regime (AP)

The Sudanese Public Prosecution has arrested two senior forensic specialists on charges related to medical reports according to which victims of the violent dispersal of the sit-in were buried in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum in 2019.

In November 2020, the public prosecutor found mass graves near the al-Markhiyat Mountains northwest of Omdurman for the remains of civilians who were killed during the bloody attack by security forces and militiamen outside the army headquarters.

Former director of the forensic medicine authority and the suspended director of the Omdurman morgue were arrested for the illegal burial of the victims, Sudan Tribune quoted judicial officials on Saturday.

Army forces and members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) perpetrated unconscionable acts of violence to disperse the peaceful sit-in in front of the army headquarters on June 3, 2019.

Over 200 people were killed during the brutal attack and 1,000 were injured.

Those acts included “extrajudicial killings and torture, excessive use of force, sexual and gender-based violence, and the forced disappearance of detained protesters,” the newspaper reported.

Health authorities, however, said that the number of the victims reached 85 persons, it added.

The Director of the Omdurman morgue was accused of releasing an autopsy report on the circumstances of the killing of a Sudanese youth under torture inside an RSF prison.

He claimed that the death was not a result of a criminal act but rather a pathological cause, pointing out that there were no visible signs of violence on the body.

Following a request by the deceased’s relatives, the Public Prosecutor ordered a re-autopsy. The probe report found that there were bruises under the scalp and on both sides of the chest, which were not proven in the doctor’s report.

It concluded that the death was due to a hemorrhage in the brain resulting from a head injury, contrary to what was stated by the arrested doctor's report.

A peaceful sit-in in front of the army headquarters on April 6, 2019 led to the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist 30-year rule in Sudan.

Protesters remained on the streets, mainly outside army headquarters, after Bashir's fall, to pressure the military into sharing power with civilians.

They demanded that ousted regime figures be held accountable and its political and economic structure be dismantled.

During negotiations between the military and the rebel leaders on June 3, the military forces dispersed the sit-in.

Head of the Transitional Military Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan then announced the halt of talks, telecommunications companies cut off internet service, and protesters in Khartoum and other cities were chased for more than a day after the sit-in ended.



Suspected US Airstrikes in Yemen Kill at Least 4 People Near Hodeidah

A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
TT
20

Suspected US Airstrikes in Yemen Kill at Least 4 People Near Hodeidah

A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Suspected US airstrikes battered Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into Wednesday, with the militias saying that one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

The intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under US President Donald Trump, targeting the militias over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, has killed at least 65 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.

The campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at more than 200.

“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said. “They’ve taken out critical members who were launching strikes on naval ships and on commercial vessels and this operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored.”

Overnight, a likely US airstrike targeted what the Houthis described as a “water project” in Hodeidah governorate's Mansuriyah District, killing four people and wounding others. Other strikes into Wednesday targeted Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa governorates, the militias said.