Sudan’s Military Releases Prominent Opposition Figure

Sudan released from jail on Tuesday a prominent politician and former cabinet minister who was arrested in February following a coup by the country’s military leaders. Khalid Omer Yousif was released on bail and still faces corruption charges. Two other prominent members and former officials who were outspoken critics of the military prior to the coup, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman and Wagdi Salih, were not released and are being held on other charges, their lawyer told Reuters. They previously worked on the Committee to Dismantle the June 30 1989 Regime, a reference to the rule of Field Marshal Omar al-Bashir. Gen.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state in Sudan, and other generals have criticized the work of the committee and created a new committee to review its decisions. Burhan then had the original committee’s members arrested on charges of betraying the public trust.

Many of the committee’s decisions regarding the firing of Bashir loyalists from the civil service have been reversed in recent weeks.

The release of two other former Sudanese politicians, Babiker Faisal and Taha Othman, was conditioned on payment of a “prohibitive bond” of 25 million Sudanese pounds each. Burhan earlier this month said he discussed the possibility of the men’s release.