A once powerful member of the former Sudanese government wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been freed from prison in the capital Khartoum.
Ahmed Haroun was the head of the ruling National Congress Party and among dozens of Sudanese officials who were arrested in 2019 following a popular uprising and military coup that toppled the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir.
Haroun is charged by the ICC with more than 40 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including murder, rape, torture, attacks on civilians and destruction of property – allegedly committed in Darfur in the early-2000s, while he served as Sudan’s State Minister for the Interior and later State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs.
Sudan has been plunged into chaos since fighting between two military factions broke out 12 days ago.
At least 512 people have been killed and more than 4,193 injured, according to the country’s health ministry, while parts of the capital Khartoum have become a war zone.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the country amid the fighting, with at least 10,194 people crossing into Egypt and 20,000 fleeing into Chad, according to local officials.
In an audio message circulated on social media on Tuesday, Haroun said he and a number of former regime figures, who he did not name, left Kober prison in Khartoum after chaos hit the facility on Sunday.
Prisoners of Kober prison were released by authorities after inmates protested the lack of food and water by burning two cars inside the prison grounds, two Sudanese police sources told CNN.
Haroun claimed in the audio message he and other figures decided to leave the prison with the help of prison guards and armed forces, and they have been relocated to a safe place. He said he would turn himself into authorities when the situation returned to normal.
Unconfirmed reports claimed the former President al-Bashir was among the prisoners released from Kober prison.
However, the media office of Sudan’s Police and sources familiar with the matter told CNN Bashir remains in the custody of the Sudan Armed Forces at a military hospital in Omdurman, west of Khartoum.
Sources told CNN that Bashir was transferred to Alia Specialized Hospital a year ago due to health problems.
“Al-Bashir is still in the hospital, all the former regime leaders were evacuated from Kober prison before the other inmates were released yesterday,” the media office of Sudan’s Police told CNN on the phone on Monday.
Source: CNN