Wife of Al Bashir arrested in Sudan capital

On Thursday, the second wife of ousted president Omar Al Bashir was arrested from her home in Khartoum North, on charges of illegal ownership of wealth and suspicious richness.

A police force took Widad Babikr from her and her husband’s residence in Kafouri in Khartoum North to the prosecution office in Khartoum.

There she was questioned about her bank accounts and the possession of residential lands and real estates – which have been frozen by the prosecution.

Since the ousting of her husband on April 11, Babikr was placed under house arrest under strict security measures.

In May, Al Bashir and other former government leaders being held in Kober Prison in Khartoum North were accused of involvement in the killing of demonstrators during the December uprising. Two-and-a-half months later, the former dictator was charged with illegal ownership of wealth and possession of foreign currency.

In early December, a group of Sudanese lawyers filed a new complaint against Al Bashir, accusing him of ordering the killing of demonstrators. On Tuesday, the public prosecutor in Khartoum questioned him about the 1989 military coup.

Al Bashir’s first wife, Fatima Khalid, is one of his cousins. His second wife whom he married in 2003, was the widow of Col Ibrahim Shamseldin, member of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation and one of Al Bashir’s closest military friends, who died in a helicopter crash in April 2001.

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