In a surprise move, the judiciary in Sudan decided to refer the judge of the court of masterminds of the June 30 coup to retirement.
Two other judges had previously recused themselves from continuing trial proceedings, the first for various reasons.
In statements to local newspapers, sources in the judiciary said
The head of the Trial Committee of the plotters of the coup d’état of June 30, 1989, Judge of the Supreme Court, Hussein Al-Jack Al-Sheikh, received a letter of retirement from the judiciary due to reaching the legal age.
The sources stated that the decision caused the absence of the aforementioned judge from the announced session, last Tuesday, forcing a member of the court, Judge of the Court of Appeal Tayeb Al-Asma, to announce the suspension of the sessions for two weeks.
Press reports in Khartoum on Thursday quoted that Judge Hussein Al-Sheikh exceeded the renewal period decided for him by the judiciary on December 31, 2022, and no other decision was issued to renew it again.
In December 2020, Judge Essam El-Din Mohamed Ibrahim, the first president of the court of the masterminds of the June coup, announced that he was stepping down for health reasons.
The judge said in a hearing broadcast on state television: “I suffer from high blood pressure and the doctors advised me to stay away from stress.”
In July 2020, Judge Ahmed Ali Ahmed joined his predecessor and decided to step down, saying that he asked to be relieved “for fear of slipping into what not justice wants.”
The trial sessions of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, his deputies Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and Bakri Hassan Saleh, and prominent leaders of the former regime, began on July 21, 2020, on charges of undermining the constitutional system, which carries the death penalty.
Al-Bashir appeared on December 20, speaking for the first time since he was deposed by a popular revolution in April 2019, and claimed responsibility for orchestrating the military coup against the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi on June 30, 1989.
