Sudan’s ousted leader is convicted of corruption

Omar al-Bashir (75) is sentenced to two years of detention in a reform facility

A Sudanese court on Saturday convicted former president of Sudan 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 euro 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.

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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 he was summoned for questioning over his role in the 1989 military coup that brought him to power. – Reuters