Acting Attorney-General shakes up prosecution

El Waleed Mahmoud, who has temporarily been made attorney-general in Sudan, issued a number of decisions on Sunday in his address to the Chief of Justice.

The decisions include:

– The seizure of all the private real states belonging to the former officials and their families, the suspension of search warrants for any purpose, and the halt of any transfer of ownership until investigations are completed.

– Cancel establishment of a State Security Prosecution and transfer all members of the prosecution to the Public Prosecution offices.

– Establish an anti-corruption prosecution team headed by Chief Prosecutor-General Yasir Bukhari, and to bring over all criminal cases of the State Security Prosecution to the Anti-Corruption Prosecution.

– Form a high committee to oversee the investigation of corruption, public funds, and criminal cases related to recent events, headed by the head of the Public Prosecution, Nasir Abdelaal.

In a letter to Lt Gen Abubakr Mustafa, the new director of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Mahmoud also denounced the move to lift charges against a number of security agents being held suspect of the torture and killing of teacher Ahmed El Kheir in Khashm El Girba.

According to Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the acting attorney-general also urgently called for completion of the investigation procedures in criminal cases that took place during anti-government demonstrations which began on 19 December 2018, and report back to him by the end of this week.

Mahmoud took office on Thursday at the Public Prosecution. According to SUNA, he asserted the necessity of the Public Prosecution's role in realising justice and enforcing the rule of law in Sudan at this critical moment.

Coup

Nationwide protests sparked by rising bread prices and fuel and cash crises, began mid-December 2018 and culminated in a public convergence under the stewardship of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, a broad coalition of opposition parties including the Sudanese Professionals Association, on the General Command of the Sudan Armed Forces in Khartoum on April 6.

On April 11, President Omar Al Bashir was ousted by a military coup, that, after initial jockeying for power within the military, resulted in the current Interim Military Council.

The protests and the sit-ins have continued throughout the country. The forces of Freedom and Change in Sudan, as well as several voices from the international community including the USA, African Union, and European Union, have expressed their insistence that the Interim Military Council established after the overthrow of the Al Bashir regime, urgently transfer power to an interim civilian government.