Sudan’s military leaders transferred ousted strongman Omar al-Bashir to prison on Wednesday, a family source said.
After the dramatic end to his thirty-year rule last week, the former president is now in “Kober prison in Khartoum.” The same prison he incarcerated and executed political opponents.
Witnesses have reported an increased military presence outside Kober prison.
Any human rights activist who has worked on Sudan is familiar with the name Kober prison, the century-old British building which was “˜Cooper Prison’ for its first half century, and which has “˜graduated’ entire classes of Sudanese political leaders, from the early nationalists to the entire parliamentary, trade union and civil society leadership in 1989-90.
Physically, much of the prison has changed very little over the decades and possesses a colonial-era aura.
The buildings are brick, with the names of generations of prisoners carved into the stucco. It is clean.
The prison authorities have a tradition of professionalism” they endeavor to stick to the rules, which include treating prisoners with basic respect.
If anyone is arrested, his relatives are relieved when he arrives in Kober because then he is relatively safe” it is in the security centers between detention and being formally remanded in custody, that the risk of abuse is greatest.