Former Sudan president Bashir sentenced to two years in detention for corruption

Reuters , Saturday 14 Dec 2019

The presiding judge said Bashir, 75, was being sent to the reform facility, rather than a prison, on account of his age

Al Bashir
File photo: Sudanese former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir smiles inside a cage as he faces corruption charges in a court in Khartoum, Sudan, August 31, 2019. (Reuters)

A Sudanese court on Saturday convicted former president Omar al-Bashir on charges of corruption and illicit possession of foreign currency and sentenced him to two years of detention in a reform facility.

The presiding judge said Bashir, 75, who was ousted in April following months of street protests against his three-decade rule, was being sent to the reform facility, rather than a prison, on account of his age.

He also ordered the confiscation of millions of euros and Sudanese pounds found in Bashir's residence when he was toppled.

Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants against him in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

Dressed in traditional white robes and a turban, Bashir watched silently from inside a metal defendant's cage while the judge read out the verdict on Saturday.

Several other judicial cases have been launched in Sudan against the former president.

In May he was charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and this week was summoned for questioning over his role in the 1989 military coup that brought him to power.

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