Sudan's military authorities have detained Ahmed Haroun, a former senior Islamist official wanted by the International Criminal Court for atrocities in Darfur, lawyers said on Sunday.
The detention took place in Sudan's eastern province of Kassala, according to two defense lawyers who spoke on condition of anonymity. Haroun's whereabouts are unknown. The military gave no reason for the re-detention.
Haroun, a senior security official under longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir and later chairman of the former ruling National Congress Party, was first detained in April 2019 after an uprising forced al-Bashir's ouster. He walked away from a Khartoum prison in April 2024 when the facility was attacked during the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The ICC accuses Haroun of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, rape, persecution, forced transfer and torture in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. He has denied the charges.
The lawyers linked the re-detention to a recent podcast in which Haroun said his party and the military might not be aligned but are united against the RSF.
The Emergency Lawyers group condemned the interview as a "legal scandal and a direct challenge to international justice." The group called for the army to hand Haroun over to the ICC along with al-Bashir and former Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein. "Justice for victims of crimes committed in Sudan cannot be held hostage to political or military balances," the group said.
