Sudan’s ousted leader faces verdict in corruption trial

For almost three decades, President Omar al-Bashir ruled Sudan with a heavy fist, jailing opponents and former allies, overseeing the bloody suppression of the Darfur region, and squashing protests that dared to challenge his regime.

But Saturday, the 75-year-old will appear in a court in central Khartoum to hear the verdict in a corruption trial that marks the first attempt by his own citizens to call him to account.

Al-Bashir was deposed in April after months of persistent demonstrations throughout the country convinced key military commanders to turn against him. When security forces searched his home and found suitcases stuffed with millions of euros, US dollars and Sudanese pounds, he was arrested and charged with possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving illegal gifts.

But al-Bashir could face even more serious charges related to his alleged abuses of human rights: He has already been accused of ordering the killing of pro-democracy protesters earlier this year, and was called to court this month over his role in the coup that brought him to power in 1989.

He was indicted a decade ago on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but the joint civilian-military cabinet that now governs Sudan — the result of months of delicate negotiations — has not so far agreed to have him extradited to face trial there.

Galal Yousif, a Sudanese artist who played a prominent role in the protests to oust al-Bashir, said the current court case against al-Bashir reflects the will of many people.

“Al-Bashir did a lot of crime in Sudan,” Yousif said. “I know he’s guilty and everyone knows that.”

Yet trying al-Bashir only on corruption charges, and not for human-rights abuses, “doesn’t make sense,” Yousif said, and doesn’t amount to “real justice” for those he victimised.

“No one is satisfied about that,” Yousif said. “The streets are awake and we are still in revolution.”

Nevertheless, the trial marks a pivotal moment in the fraught democratic transition of Sudan, a large, strategic state that serves as a bridge between north and sub-Saharan Africa. By facing the law, al-Bashir joins a list of reputedly despotic leaders who have been removed from office through popular protests and who have been put on trial over their actions while in power.

If he is found guilty, he faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Al-Bashir’s lawyers have argued that it is common for leaders to hold foreign currency. While al-Bashir has admitted to investigators that he received $90 million from Saudi royals, the current trial is about $25 million of those funds that he received from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

For many years, al-Bashir seemed untouchable. A guilty ruling in the corruption case would “break this spell of immunity that has been pervasive” under al-Bashir and his ruling National Congress Party, said Jonas Horner, a Sudan expert with the International Crisis Group, a research organisation.

“I think people will be pleased and happy on the whole in Sudan if indeed a guilty verdict is delivered,” Horner said.

Following a career in the military, al-Bashir rose to power in a bloodless putsch in 1989. During his reign, Sudan was plagued by armed conflict and multiple economic shocks. Al-Bashir gave refuge to Osama bin Laden years before the Sep 11 terrorist attacks, and the US listed Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.

But last December, protests triggered by the high price of bread, a symptom of an acute economic crisis, erupted in the northeastern city of Atbara, quickly spreading to major cities including Omdurman and the capital, Khartoum.

To subdue the uprising, authorities temporarily shut down the internet, arrested opposition figures and critical journalists, and used tear gas to disperse growing crowds that chanted, “The people want the fall of the regime.”

Following months of tumultuous protests led by young Sudanese, doctors and other professionals, the military removed al-Bashir from office and arrested him on April 11, bringing to an end the rule of one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

Al-Bashir was initially put under house arrest at his residence in the military headquarters, but was transferred to the Kober prison, where Al-Bashir once jailed demonstrators and political prisoners.

In mid-August, Sudan’s generals, along with the opposition alliance that grew out of the protest movement, reached a power-sharing agreement that promises to oversee elections and a return to civilian rule in three years. Abdalla Hamdok, an economist, was named prime minister, while Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan leads an 11-person sovereign council.

The transitional government has undertaken steps to keep Sudan’s transition on track and fulfil major demands by pro-democracy protesters. Hamdok’s administration has disbanded the Congress Party, overturned morality laws that outlawed drinking and prohibited women from wearing clothes considered revealing, and persuaded the Trump administration to send an ambassador to Khartoum for the first time in 23 years.

Hamdok and his Cabinet recently visited Washington in an effort to get Sudan removed from the US government’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that has crippled Sudan’s economy, limited foreign investment and restricted debt relief.

Sentry, a watchdog group founded by actor George Clooney and rights activist John Prendergast, supported Sudan’s removal from the list this week, citing positive steps taken by the Hamdok administration.

While the corruption trial against al-Bashir is crucial, many Sudanese worry that by trying him first on corruption, meaningful justice will not be delivered, said Horner, the Sudan expert.

“The financial crimes are secondary for many Sudanese,” Horner said, especially for those who suffered in the brutal military campaign in the western region of Darfur, where as many as 300,000 people have been killed since 2003, according to UN estimates.

“The main concern for Darfur and those in the peripheries in the south and west,” he said, “is to see him held accountable for crimes that are far more violent and damning.”

© 2019 New York Times News Service