Ex-Sudanese President Isolated In Jail Over COVID-19 Fears - Reports

Ex-Sudanese President Isolated in Jail Over COVID-19 Fears - Reports

Ousted Sudanese President Omar Bashir has been transferred to a single-occupancy cell in the Khartoum-based Kober prison, where he is serving a two-year sentence over corruption charges, due to the risk that he could have contracted the coronavirus, local media reported on Thursday

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th May, 2020) Ousted Sudanese President Omar Bashir has been transferred to a single-occupancy cell in the Khartoum-based Kober prison, where he is serving a two-year sentence over corruption charges, due to the risk that he could have contracted the coronavirus, local media reported on Thursday.

Late on Wednesday, the Sudanese Prosecutor General's office said that at least three of Bashir's associates serving their sentences in the same jail had tested positive for COVID-19. They are Ahmed Haroun, the former chairman of Bashir's banned National Congress Party, former Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein and ex-First Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha.

According to the country's al-Rakoba news outlet, Bashir met with these three infected while walking and visiting detainees in their barracks. The news agency also reported that Bashir refused to be tested for COVID-19.

In December, a court in Sudan's capital of Khartoum sentenced Bashir to two years in prison on corruption charges. Prior to the court's decision, Bashir was also charged in May 2019 over his role inn the killing of demonstrators during anti-government protests that led to his overthrow.

The ex-president is also wanted by the International Criminal Court for suspected war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, committed during the military conflict in Darfur that broke out in 2003.

Bashir governed Sudan for 30 years before he was overthrown by a military coup in April 2019, which brought the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to power after months of anti-government demonstrations. In late August, Sudan established the Sovereign Council, officially dissolving the TMC, and Abdalla Hamdok was then appointed as the prime minister and head of the transitional government.