Ahmed Haroun, a former minister of Sudan who was sought for war crimes, was released from a jail in Khartoum.

Ahmed Haroun, a former powerful member of the former Sudanese government wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been freed from prison in the capital Khartoum. Haroun was arrested in 2019 following a popular uprising and military coup that toppled the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir. He is charged with more than 40 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur in the early-2000s, while he served as Sudan’s State Minister for the Interior and later State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs. In an audio message circulated on social media on Tuesday, Haroun said he and a number of former regime figures left Kober prison in Khartoum after chaos hit the facility on Sunday. Prisoners of Kober prison were released by authorities after inmates protested the lack of food and water by burning two cars inside the prison grounds.

Haroun claimed in the audio message he and other figures decided to leave the prison with the help of prison guards and armed forces, and they have been relocated to a safe place. The former President al-Bashir has been released from Kober prison, but remains in the custody of the Sudan Armed Forces at a military hospital in Omdurman, west of Khartoum. He was transferred to Alia Specialized Hospital a year ago due to health problems. All former regime leaders were evacuated from Kober prison before the other inmates were released yesterday, according to the media office of Sudan’s Police.