Sudan military detains former official Haroun after public podcast appearance
Defense lawyers say the ICC fugitive was taken in Omdurman following a controversial interview where he discussed his party's stance against the Rapid Support Forces.
By Pedro Barnes ·
Sudan’s military authorities detained Ahmed Haroun on Sunday, marking the second time in recent years that the former senior official has been taken into custody by the state.
Two lawyers on Haroun's defense team said he was held in Omdurman, the city adjacent to the capital Khartoum. The legal representatives had previously indicated he was detained in the eastern province of Kassala, but they did not clarify how his location changed. Both lawyers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media on the specific circumstances of the arrest.
Haroun served as a senior security official under the rule of former dictator Omar al-Bashir. He later became the chairman of the National Congress Party. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him regarding crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. The charges include murder, rape, persecution, forced transfer of populations, and torture. Haroun has consistently denied the accusations.
The lawyer team linked the recent detention to comments Haroun made in a recent podcast interview. In the discussion, he stated that his party and the military might not be ideologically aligned, but that they share a common goal in fighting the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The RSF and the national army have been at war since April 2023, with the conflict centered initially in Khartoum.
The National Congress Party called for his immediate release. In a statement, the party argued he was detained solely for expressing his opinion. The party did not reference his status as a fugitive wanted by the ICC in that communication.
Haroun was first detained in April 2019, shortly after a popular uprising led to the military ouster of al-Bashir. He was held in a Khartoum prison alongside other senior officials and ICC fugitives. The military refused to hand them over to the international court at that time. He regained his freedom in April 2024 when the prison where he was held was attacked during the ongoing civil war.
The current conflict in Sudan has been marked by severe atrocities, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. The United Nations and international rights organizations have described these acts as war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in Darfur. U.N. experts stated that the RSF's attack on el-Fasher last year showed the hallmarks of genocide.
The Emergency Lawyers group, a coalition of activists and rights advocates, condemned the podcast interview as a legal scandal and a direct challenge to international justice. The group urged the army to detain Haroun and transfer him to the ICC along with former President al-Bashir and former Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein. The group stated that justice for victims should not depend on political or military balances.
