Khartoum,(SUNA)-The former Vice-President of the ousted president, Ali Othman Muhammad Taha, has denied his participation in the planning and implementation of the June 1989 coup – but at the same time he affirmed his pride in his participation and holding positions during the period of the Salvation Government.
Taha said, during his interrogation before the Special Court, which held, Today at the Judicial and Legal Sciences Training Institute, headed by Supreme Court Judge Imad al-Din al-Jak, and the membership of the Appeal judges Mohammed al-Moataz and al-Rashid Tayib al-Asmaa, that on the night of the coup he was at his home in Riyadh and did not participate in the coup at all, revealing to the court that it had been appointed Minister of Urban Planning in July 1993, as the first position he assumed after the coup.
He denied his participation in meetings related to planning and the implementation of the 19 89 coup, pointing out that what was said by the witness of King Hashem Briqi, with his participation in two meetings to implement the coup in a farm in Soba, is nothing but a deal in exchange for his exemption from the case and his transfer to a king’s witness, stressing that Briqi’ was transferred to a witness of a king in return because they did not have evidence against him.
Taha assured the court, that he was proud of assuming a number of public positions during the Salvation Rule, stressing that he did not regret his participation in public positions during the Salvation Rule, considering their regime as one of the best ruling systems that the country witnessed.
Taha indicated to his friendship with the toppled President Omar Al-Bashir, at Khartoum Secondary School in the year 1964, affirming to the court afterwards that Al-Bashir joined the armed forces and did not meet him afterwards – until after he carried out the coup and became president of the republic.
Taha revealed to the court that he had carried out a number of visits to the military areas in southern Sudan, and that he was aware of their conditions during the deterioration that befell them in the government of Imam Sadiq al-Mahdi, assuring that he made all those visits in his capacity as leader of Parliament and the opposition during that period, and that his job title is equivalent to that of Prime Minister at that time.
He stressed that he made all those visits with the approval of the late Prime Minister and Minister of Defense at that time, Sadiq al-Mahdi, adding that all his visits to the military areas in southern Sudan were carried out by military planes, and he did not move by private or civilian means.
