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KHARTOUM - 14 Dec 2019

Sudan's Bashir sentenced to two years in detention

Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, in court in August.Credit...Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, in court in August.Credit...Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A Sudanese court convicted former President Omar al-Bashir of corruption on Saturday, sentencing him to two years in a rehabilitation facility.

The presiding judge Al-Sadig Abdurrahman said Mr. Bashir, 75, was being sent to a state-run social care facility for elderly people, rather than a prison, on account of his age.

He is currently being detained in Kobar prison, where he once sent many of his political rivals.

The court ruling comes a year after nationwide protests against al-Bashir’s 30-year rule. Al-Bashir has been in jail since April, when the military ousted him after months of street protests.

The former leader was charged earlier this year with corruption and illicit possession of foreign currency, after millions of US dollars, euros and Sudanese pounds were found in his residence shortly after his ouster.

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 Darfur.

Several other cases have been launched against Sudan’s ousted long-time leader.

In May, he was charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and earlier this week was summoned for questioning over his role in the 1989 military coup that brought him to power.

 The former Sudanese leader was an army Brigadier-General when he joined forces with Islamists to seize power in the 1989 military coup.