Sudan’s jailed former strongman Omar al-Bashir is taken to a hospital in the north for better care

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for 30 years before he was toppled in a popular uprising and then jailed by the country’s military rulers, has been transferred to a medical facility in northern Sudan, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Since war broke out in April last year between the Sudanese military and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the 80-year-old al-Bashir has been held at a military facility on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

His lawyer, Mohamed al-Hassan al-Amin, told The Associated Press that al-Bashir was transferred on Tuesday and would get proper care at a better-equipped hospital in the town of Merowe, about 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of Khartoum.

Al-Bashir’s health had deteriorated recently, the lawyer said, adding that the former strongman suffers from age-related complications and high blood pressure.

“He needs regular checks and follow-ups,” al-Amin said over the phone, “but his condition is not critical.”

Al-Amin said that Sudan’s former Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein — who was also arrested soon after al-Bashir — was also transferred to the same facility. He suffers from heart-related problems, the lawyer said.

The office of Sudan’s military spokesman declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Al-Bashir ruled Sudan for three decades, despite wars and sanctions, before he was overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and other crimes committed during the conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the 2000s.

The International Criminal Court has indicted both al-Bashir and Hussein on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, where the government’s campaign was marked by mass killings, rape, torture and persecution. Some 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

Sudan’s military rulers — now themselves fighting to stay in power in a bitter conflict with the rival RSF — declined ICC requests that al-Bashir and others wanted by the world court be handed over for trial.

Al-Bashir, Hussein and others were held in a Khartoum prison before being taken to a fortified military base after the prison was attacked by the RSF in April last year. Another former official, Ahmed Harun, who is also wanted by the ICC, walked away after the prison was attacked. His whereabouts are unknow.

The latest war in Sudan has devastated Khartoum and many other urban areas, and has also been marked by atrocities such as mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. The United Nations and international rights groups say these acts also amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, which has been facing a bitter onslaught by the RSF.

The war has killed at least 20,000 people and left tens of thousands wounded, according to the U.N. Rights groups and activists say the real toll is much higher.

The conflict has also forced some 10 million people to flee their homes in Sudan — about a quarter of the country’s population, according to the International Organization for Migration. Of them, more than 2 million have been driven abroad, mostly to neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, the IOM says.

Samy Magdy, The Associated Press