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Sudan: Islamist hardliners escape Kober prison

Storyline:World

GOOBJOOG NEWS | KHARTOUM: A number of Sudanese Islamist hardliners have escaped from Kober prison in Khartoum, local media reports.

Among those who escaped are Ahmed Harun, a former official in the ousted regime of Omar Al-Bashir who reported that he had managed to escape from the correctional facility along with a number of other Islamist hardliners, including Ali Osman Taha, Awad El Jaz, and Nafi Ali Nafi.

Harun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hauge was however quoted by the Tayba Satellite TV station saying that he and other former government officials who had escaped will be ready to defend themselves before a judge.

He added that they decided to flee the prison to escape heavy bombardment and repeated power and water outage in the facility since fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Raid Support Forces (RSF) broke out on April 15th.

However, the RSF has accused the Sudanese Army of being behind the release of the former government officials from prison.

On Wednesday, the Sudan Armed Forces released a statement stating that former president Omar al-Bashir who was also being held at the prison was in their custody and was being held at a military hospital in the country under police watch.

“Removing the symbols of the former regime from prison is part of the army’s plan to return the Islamists to power,” the RSF said in a statement.

However, the SAF has denied any links to the escape of the former close allies of former leader Al-Bashir who were detained after Bashir’s 30-year dictatorship was ousted following a popular uprising in 2018.