Sudan coup leaders release Islamists as detained premier refuses to stand down

A number of high-ranking members of Omar al Bashir’s now-dissolved National Congress party (NCP), including its former leader, Ibrahim Gandour, were released by military authorities as demonstrators continued to take to the streets to protest the military coup.

Protesters took to the streets in Sudan over the weekend to call for the return of civilian rule after the military coup d'etat on 25 October. - AFP

Gandour was arrested in June 2020 for allegedly planning sabotage operations against the government of prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Sudan state TV reported that Anas Omer, the former East Darfur governor, and former intelligence service communications head Mohamed Hamid Tabidi were also released.

Mohamed Ali Al-Jazoli, the leader of the State of Law and Justice party (SLJP), a jihadist group, was also allowed to leave prison.

After the releases were announced, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan - who led last Monday's coup - dismissed acting attorney-general Mubarak Osman but gave no reason why.

Osman had been working on investigations on the Islamists who were released.

Protests throughout the country

Demonstrations rocked Omdurman and Khartoum on Sunday. Khartoum has largely been shut down as protesters set up roadblocks. Civil servants are refusing to work and shopkeepers have shuttered businesses.

The Sudan Doctors Committee said that the overall toll was 12 dead since the coup started on 25 October.

At least three people were shot dead and 100 wounded on Saturday during the protests.

The police denied using live rounds but doctors report that dead protesters has bullet wounds in the head, chest and stomach.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces remained on the streets of Khartoum and twin city Omdurman on Monday.

The group gained notoriety under al-Bashir for its operations in Darfur. It was also part of the bloody crackdown on a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum in June 2019.

Won’t “willingly” stand down

According to sources close to Hamdok, who is under house, he said he would never willingly stand down. The sources spoke to US broadcaster CNN.

Central Committee Of Sudan Doctors (CCSD)

(Updated Report about injuries and deaths on October 30th demonstrations):

- Two martyrs in Omdurman Hospital, and a third in the Al-Arbaeen Hospital in Omdurman, bringing the total number of deaths documented to us to 11 since pic.twitter.com/xAns1YKj8c

— لجنة أطباء السودان المركزية-CCSD (@SD_DOCTORS) October 31, 2021

There have been regional and international calls for his release, and other punitive measures have been carried out.

Both the World Bank and the United States have frozen aid, which is expected to hit the country hard, as it remains in dire straits financially.

Volker Perthes, the UN special representative to Sudan, met with Hamdok in detention on Sunday.

"We discussed options for mediation and the way forward for Sudan,” said Perthes. “I will continue these efforts with other Sudanese stakeholders," he added.

Calls to release SPLM-N deputy

While a number of Islamists were given their freedom, Malik Agar, the SPLM-N party head, called for the release of Yasir Arman, the party's deputy leader.

Arman, the political adviser of Hamdok, was one of the leaders of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition who was detained after the 25 October coup.

A group of Sudanese leaders calling for peace sent a letter to regional and international bodies on Sunday, including the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the European Union, and UN agencies operating in Sudan as well as ambassadors in Khartoum.

• At least two more dead, hundreds injured in anti-coup protests in Sudan

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They called for Arman's immediate release and outlined the numerous international calls for political detainees to be released from detention, which they say they junta has ignored.

Arman’s advocates claims his incarceration violates the Juba Peace Agreement.

SPLM-N officials and Yassir's family say they have been blocked from any communication with him.