Sudanese Military Detains ICC Fugitive Ahmed Haroun in Omdurman
Defense attorneys confirm the former security chief was captured again, linking the move to his recent public criticism of the army.
By Ivan Dvorak ·
Ahmed Haroun, a former senior official in Sudan’s Islamist government, is back under military guard. Two defense lawyers confirmed on Sunday that Sudanese authorities detained Haroun in Omdurman, the city adjacent to the capital Khartoum. The capture marks the second time Haroun has been taken into custody by the state since the 2019 uprising ousted longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Haroun serves as a focal point in the ongoing legal and political struggle over accountability for the Darfur conflict. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. These include murder, rape, and torture committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. Haroun has consistently denied the charges leveled against him by the tribunal.
The initial detention occurred in April 2019. Haroun was held in a Khartoum prison alongside al-Bashir and other senior figures wanted by the ICC. The military refused to surrender them to the international court at that time. Haroun remained in custody until April 2024, when he walked out of the facility after it was attacked during the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Defense attorneys said no official reason was provided for the new detention. They linked the move to a podcast interview Haroun gave recently. In the discussion, he noted that his National Congress Party and the military might not be perfectly aligned, but both share a united front against the Rapid Support Forces in the war that began in April 2023.
The National Congress Party reacted swiftly to the news. The group called for Haroun’s immediate release, stating in a statement that he was detained simply for expressing his opinion. The party did not mention his status as an ICC fugitive in its official comment.
Rights groups had been urging the military to act after Haroun’s podcast appearance. The Emergency Lawyers group condemned the interview as a legal scandal and a direct challenge to international justice. The group demanded that the army detain Haroun and hand him over to the ICC along with al-Bashir and former Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein.
The detention occurs against a backdrop of renewed violence in Darfur. The United Nations and international rights organizations describe the current conflict as marked by mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. U.N. experts recently stated that the Rapid Support Forces’ attack on el-Fasher last year bore the hallmarks of genocide.
Haroun’s whereabouts remain unknown as of Sunday. The defense lawyers spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not received authorization to brief the media. They initially reported that he was detained in the eastern province of Kassala before confirming the Omdurman location.
