Sudan court hears names of 1989 Al Bashir coup plotters

The Khartoum court that is trying deposed former president Omar Al Bashir and 27 former officials for the 1989 coup that swept the regime to power, has heard a detailed list of those involved in the plot in testimony from one of the co-accused.

Retired Col Hashim Omar Breeqa, referred to as ‘accused No. 28’, yesterday named former vice president Ali Osman Taha, Hassan El Turabi, Awad El Jaz and others among his co-accused, in a sitting of the court presided over by Supreme Court Judge Ahmed Ali Ahmed at the Criminal Laboratories Building in Khartoum.

Breeqa testified that he attended series of meetings during the period just before the coup; that some of them included both military men and civilians, and others confined to military people only.

Breeqa indicated that meetings were attended by former vice president Bakri Hassan Salih, Maj. Gen. Al-Hadi Abdalla, Lt. Gen. El Zubair Salih, Maj. Ibrahim Shams Eddin, Mohamed Khangar Eltayeb, Mahmoud Sharief, Ali Karti and El Fashashoya.

He testified that those who attended the meeting were involved in the planning for staging the coup.

The trial continues.

The court dropped the case against defendant El Zubair Ahmed Hassan as he is now deceased.

The court also ruled that after his statements were read to him, defendant Ahmed Abdelrahman, who is 87 years old, need not to attend the sittings of the court till issuance of its verdict on the grounds of his health.

Coup

Ousted President Omar Al Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years and was deposed by a military coup on April 11, 2019, was convicted on charges of corruption and currency irregularities in December 2019. He was sentenced to two years in a ‘correctional facility’ designed for older prisoners.

Al Bashir has also been charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of demonstrators during the protests that led to his removal from power. In December he was questioned about his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power.

Sources: RD / SUNA