Two prominent Sudanese opposition figures have been released after two months in prison. They are a former minister in the civilian government and a former member of the Sovereign Council, who were arrested in early February by the military authorities in a major wave of arrests. They were held in Kober prison in Khartoum. Is this a goodwill gesture by the authorities toward the opposition?
The first significant release took place on Tuesday, March 26, when Khaled Omar Youssef, a former minister in the Sudanese civilian government, was freed. He had been a member of the country’s main civilian political alliance, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FLC).
This was followed by the release of Mohammed al-Fekki Suleiman, a former member of the Sovereign Council. He was also chairman of the committee charged with recovering property looted by the former regime of Omar al-Bashir. The committee has since been dissolved by the junta. “All of the FLC leaders who were detained in recent weeks have been released,” said lawyer Azhari al-Haj, who had earlier announced the release of his client Mohammed al-Fekki.
Among those released were Taha Othman, Wagdi Saleh and Abibakr Faisal, all members of the Forces for Freedom and Change.