Sudan: Ousted President Omar Al-Bashir to Be Interrogated Over Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing

By Staff, Agencies

Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's ousted president, is to be questioned over "money laundering and financing terrorism."

The order came as tens of thousands of protesters called on the military to give way to civilian rule.

Sudan's public prosecutor ordered the interrogation of al-Bashir on Thursday.

The ousted president was removed from power and arrested by Sudan's military on April 11 after months of protests against his 30-year rule. The military and opposition leaders are now in the process of setting up a transitional government.

Under al-Bashir's regime, Sudan was placed on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism over his links with militant groups.

Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, responsible for the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington in 2001, lived in Sudan between 1992 and 1996. Sudan was under a US embargo until 2017, but remains on its terror blacklist.

General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, said last month that more than $113 million worth of cash in three currencies had been seized in al-Bashir's residence.

The order of al-Bashir's interrogation came as hundreds of thousands of protesters joined a sit-in to demand the military make way for civilian rule.

A huge crowd gathered outside the Defense Ministry, answering a call by an alliance of activists and opposition groups to take part in a protest march through the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.