Ex-Sudanese FM goes on hunger strike in prison

Along with other officials, former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim al Ghandour started on Sunday a hunger strike in his prison in protest against his detention.

In a statement released yesterday, al Ghandour’s family said: “He along with other prisoners started a hunger strike, and they will not stop it before they had been released or had fair trials.”

Al Ghandour was Sudan’s foreign minister during the rule of ousted President Omar al Bashir. The statement did not mention names of the other former officials.

Al Bashir was removed in a military coup backed by many Sudanese in 2019. Since then, he has been in prison along with most of his officials and leaders of his political party.

READ: Sudan revokes license of Al Jazeera Mubasher TV

Al Ghandour was widely seen to be the engineer of the lifting American sanctions in 2017, which were imposed on his country for 20 years.

He was later fired when he revealed to parliament that the Sudanese diplomats abroad did not receive their salaries for two months.

Recently, the Public Prosecution ordered the release of many of al Bashir’s officials, but General Abdul Fattah al Burhan, who is close to Israel and has been ruling the country, refused.

Al Ghandour’s family denounced al Burhan’s rejection, noting that it was an “unprecedented interference in the country’s judiciary.”