{"id":84579,"date":"2020-07-22T15:11:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T07:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=84579"},"modified":"2020-07-22T15:11:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T07:11:24","slug":"sudans-ex-president-omar-al-bashir-on-trial-for-1989-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=84579","title":{"rendered":"Sudan&#8217;s ex-president Omar Al-Bashir on trial for 1989 coup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.brudirect.com\/images\/news\/20200722_AFRICA.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u00a0KHARTOUM, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES)\u00a0&#8212;\u00a0Su<\/strong>dan&#8217;s ousted long-serving leader Omar al-Bashir has gone on trial in the capital, Khartoum, in connection with the military coup that brought him to power more than three decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 76-year-old, who has already been convicted for corruption, could face the death penalty if found guilty over his role in the 1989 coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 20 former officials are on trial alongside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bashir was forced from power in 2019 following popular protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The civilian uprising started in late 2018 as anti-austerity demonstrations but quickly morphed into a call to end President Bashir&#8217;s rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On April 11, 2019, the military announced that he had been ousted and arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A joint transitional government made up of the top army officials and civilians was later formed in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and genocide in the western Darfur region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authorities in Sudan said in February they were are ready to hand the former leader over to the ICC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defendants including former vice presidents Ali Osman Taha and Bakri Hassan Saleh were in a caged off area in the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This court will listen to each of them and we will give each of the 28 accused the opportunity to defend themselves,&#8221; court president Issam al-Din Mohammad Ibrahim, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It adds that one of Bashir&#8217;s 150 defence lawyers, Hashem al-Gali, said in court that their client and other defendants were facing &#8220;a political trial&#8221; being held &#8220;in a hostile environment&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court adjourned the trial until Aug 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bashir seized power in a military coup on June 30 against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadek al-Mahdi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with other officials who served in his government Bashir is accused of having plotted the coup in which the army arrested Sudan&#8217;s political leaders, suspended parliament, closed the airport and announced the overthrow on the radio. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0KHARTOUM, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES)\u00a0&#8212;\u00a0Sudan&#8217;s ousted long-serving leader Omar al-Bashir has gone on trial in the capital, Khartoum, in connection with the military coup that brought him to power more than three decades ago. The 76-year-old, who has already been convicted for corruption, could face the death penalty if found guilty over his role in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":84582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}