A former Sudanese politician wanted for alleged crimes against humanity has said that he and other former officials are no longer in jail, following reports of a break-out.
Ahmed Haroun was among those being held in Kober prison in the capital Khartoum who are facing charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He faces 20 counts of crimes against humanity, as well as 22 counts of war crimes, with charges that include murder, rape, torture, and persecution.
Haroun played a key role within the Sudanese government’s brutal response to the still unresolved and long-running civil wars in Darfur (2003) and South Kordofan (from 2011). In 2007, he was indicted by the ICC for the alleged role he played as the country’s interior minister in the atrocities committed in Darfur— seen as the first 21st century genocide.
Reports emerged this week of a prison break at Kober—where Ahmed Haroun was serving a sentence alongside Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's former president.
On Tuesday, Haroun confirmed in a statement aired on Sudan's Tayba TV that he and other Bashir loyalists who served under him had left the jail—but said he would be ready to appear before the judiciary whenever it was functioning.
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