Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers: Ahmed Haroun’s ‘arrest’ still not confirmed

Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers group says there is still no independent evidence or official confirmation that Ahmed Mohamed Haroun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has been arrested. The group calls on the authorities to clarify his whereabouts and disclose the fate of other individuals wanted by the court, including former president Omar al-Bashir and Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, widespread reports, covered on Sunday in international media including the Associated Press and Reuters and attributed to unnamed sources, allege that Ahmed Haroun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has been arrested. However, the accuracy of those reports has been called into doubt.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers group calls on the authorities to make their position clear, establish the truth behind the reports, and disclose Haroun’s whereabouts.

The group stresses that any arrest of Haroun must be followed by the necessary legal steps to hand him over to the ICC and enforce the arrest warrant issued against him. This, it says, would ensure that he appears before justice and does not continue to evade accountability for the crimes attributed to him.

The Emergency Lawyers also calls on the authorities to disclose the whereabouts of other individuals wanted by the ICC, foremost among them ousted former president Omar Al Bashir and Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, and clarify what measures have been taken against them.

Conflicting accounts

Lawyer and human rights activist Rehab El Mubarak says conflicting accounts surrounding Haroun’s reported arrest, coupled with the authorities’ official silence, reflect the lack of clarity in the government’s position and its inability to deal decisively with major judicial cases.

She says this has prompted descriptions of the alleged developments as a fabricated farce.

El Mubarak questions the genuine intentions of the current authorities and whether they are truly committed to enforcing the law and achieving accountability. She warns that the absence of publicly announced charges and transparent investigations will inevitably lead to repeated scenarios of impunity.

Meanwhile, journalist and activist Qureshi Awad says the incident amounts to the apprehension of a prisoner who had escaped justice, rather than an arrest in the conventional sense by authorities who had been unaware of his whereabouts since he left Kober Prison amid deteriorating security conditions and the suspension of court hearings.

Awad points to the continued silence of official bodies and the absence of a clear, documented statement, noting that the authorities have confined themselves to referring to the circumstances of Haroun’s previous detention.

He says Haroun and his dissolved party are seeking to present him politically as a figure with opinions and proposals for resolving the current crisis.

Awad concludes that Haroun’s proper place is in the dock, facing 42 charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than taking centre stage in political life or discussing solutions to Sudan’s crisis.

‘Haroun at liberty in Sudan’

Ahmed Haroun was held at Kober Prison in Khartoum alongside ousted president Omar Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir and former defence minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein. All three are wanted by the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Al Bashir also faces allegations of genocide.

Haroun was also subject to domestic criminal proceedings, including case No. 2868 of 2006 concerning crimes in Darfur, as well as reports concerning investigations into the killing of protesters during the December Revolution of 2018.

Since leaving prison, Haroun has remained at liberty, moving freely between cities and states in Sudan under the control of the Sudanese army.