Court convicts Omar Al Bashir’s second wife of illegally amassing wealth

A Sudanese court on Sunday convicted the wife of former president Omar Al Bashir of illegally amassing wealth and ruled to strip her of her assets.

A Sudanese court on Sunday convicted the wife of former president Omar Al Bashir of illegally amassing wealth and ruled to strip her of her assets.

Widad Babiker is Al Bashir’s second wife.

She can appeal the court ruling within two weeks.

Sudanese officials said Babiker could not convincingly explain to the court how she came to possess a “fortune, properties and precious stones”.

The court also ruled to confiscate funds she held in two accounts at a local bank, they added.

Corruption allegations have swirled around Al Bashir’s second wife since the autocratic leader was ousted in 2019 following a popular uprising.

Al Bashir himself was convicted of corruption charges in 2020 and sentenced to two years in a correctional facility.

Babiker married Al Bashir in 2002, less than a year after her first husband, army general Ibrahim Shamseldeen, died in a plane crash.

Al Bashir is currently on trial for overthrowing a democratically-elected government when he seized power in a 1989 coup.