Sudan to charge Al Bashir with crimes against humanity

The public prosecutor in charge of prosecuting ousted president Omar Al Bashir and other leaders of his deposed regime said in a statement that charges are being prepared against them for crimes committed between 1989 to 2019.

The charges will include the killing of protesters, human rights violations, crimes against humanity in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile state, rape, torture, enforced disappearances, and corruption involving billions of dollars. Several of these crimes carry the death penalty.

The prosecution said that in the past, a sheikh over 70 years of age was sentenced to death. In the Islamic world the death penalty is usually not given to people over 70, or under 30 years of age. Al Bashir also ratified the death penalty against a young man under 30, because of possession of foreign currency.

The public prosecution stated that the two-year prison sentence issued against Al Bashir on Saturday will be fully implemented. Al Bashir, who will serve his sentence in a ‘correctional facility’ designed for older prisoners, will be subject to prison regulations and restrictions.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) described the sentence of Al Bashir as “a political and moral condemnation of the ousted leader and his regime… It is just the tip of the iceberg regarding his corruption,” it stated. “It’s the start of nothing more than the settling the scores.”

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