Sudan attorney general orders formation of committee to oversee corruption probe

Sudanese protestors wave signs and flags as they continue to protest outside the army complex in the capital Khartoum on April 17, 2019. (AFP)
Updated 20 April 2019
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Sudan attorney general orders formation of committee to oversee corruption probe

  • Al-Walid Sayed Ahmed had submitted a request to lift the immunity of a number of officers suspected of killing a teacher who died in custody in February
  • Protest leaders are to hold talks Saturday with Sudan’s military rulers who have so far resisted calls to transfer power to a civilian administration

CAIRO: Sudan's attorney general on Saturday ordered the formation of a committee to oversee investigations into crimes involving public funds, corruption and criminal cases related to recent events, the state news agency SUNA said, citing a statement from the attorney general.
SUNA also said that attorney general Al-Walid Sayed Ahmed had submitted a request to the director of the country's National Intelligence and Security Services to lift the immunity of a number of officers suspected of killing a teacher who died in custody in February.

Earlier on Saturday, a judicial source said that Sudan's public prosecutor has begun investigating ousted President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds. 
The source said that military intelligence had searched Bashir's home and found suitcases loaded with more than $351,000 and six million euros, as well as five million Sudanese pounds.
"The chief public prosecutor... ordered the (former) president detained and quickly questioned in preparation to put him on trial," a judicial source told Reuters.
"The public prosecution will question the former president in Kobar prison," the source added.
Relatives could not be immediately reached on Saturday for comment about the investigation.
Bashir, who is also being sought by the International Criminal Court over allegations of genocide in the country's western Darfur region, was ousted on April 11 by the military following months of protests against his rule and had been held at a presidential residence.
Bashir's family said this week that the former president had been moved to the high-security Kobar prison in Khartoum.
As president Bashir often played up his humble beginnings as the child of a poor farming family in Hosh Bannaga, a small village consisting mainly of mud houses on the eastern bank of the Nile some 150 km (93 miles) north of Khartoum.
The Sudanese Professionals' Association, leading the protests, has called for holding Bashir and members of his administration to account, a purge of corruption and cronyism and easing an economic crisis that worsened during Bashir's last years in power.
On Wednesday, Sudan's transitional military council ordered the central bank to review financial transfers since April 1 and to seize "suspect" funds, according to state news agency SUNA.
The council also ordered the "suspension of the transfer of ownership of any shares until further notice and for any large or suspect transfers of shares or companies to be reported" to authorities.

Meanwhile, protest leaders are to hold talks Saturday with Sudan’s military rulers who have so far resisted calls to transfer power to a civilian administration, a head figure in the protests told AFP.
“The military council will hold talks with the Alliance for Freedom and Change at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) today,” said Siddiq Yousef, a senior member of the umbrella group leading the protest movement.


EU, UK call on Israel to stop settler attacks on Palestinians in West Bank

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EU, UK call on Israel to stop settler attacks on Palestinians in West Bank

  • Israeli human rights group: ‘These criminal and deadly attacks are carried out with the backing of the state’
  • EU spokesperson: ‘Impunity for such acts risks provoking further violence’

LONDON: Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank must cease attacks on local Palestinians, Western politicians have said.

The UK and EU both condemned the rise in settler violence since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran on Feb. 28. 

Six Palestinians have been killed by settlers in the 12 days since the start of the war, according to the UN.

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said it had recorded 109 separate incidents of violence committed by settlers at 62 sites in the West Bank during the war’s opening 10 days. Both the UK and EU urged Israeli authorities to halt further attacks.

Three Palestinians died on Sunday in the village of Khirbet Abu Falah after armed settlers attacked it with guns before dawn, Reuters reported. 

Palestinian health authorities said local residents Thaer Hamayel, 24, and his cousin, Farea Hamayel, 57, both died after being shot in the head. 

A third man, Mohammed Murra, 55, died after going into cardiac arrest, having inhaled tear gas fired by the Israeli military.

The previous day, 28-year-old Amir Shanaran died after being shot by settlers at Wadi Al-Rakhim, local health authorities said. His brother Khaled Shanaran was seriously wounded.

On March 2, Mohammed Azem, 51, and his brother Fahim, 47, were shot dead by settlers at Qaryut, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said.

In a statement, Yesh Din said: “These criminal and deadly attacks are carried out with the backing of the state and almost complete impunity, advancing Israel’s objective of forcibly displacing Palestinians and annexing the West Bank.”

Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein Al-Sheikh on Sunday denounced the “major escalation of settler terrorism.”

An EU spokesperson said “impunity for such acts risks provoking further violence,” and called on Israel to “abide by its obligations under international law to protect the Palestinian population in the occupied territory.”

The UK’s consulate-general in Jerusalem said in a statement that the Israeli military must respond to settler violence with “swift, thorough investigations and accountability for those responsible,” adding: “Settler violence which terrorises communities must be stop