Sudan jails nine military officers over ‘coup’ plot

Nine Sudanese military officers have been sentenced to between two and five years in prison for their role in an alleged coup against the Sudanese government last year, a lawyer said on Sunday.

“Today the military court issued its decision about the members of SAF who have been accused of a coup. It gave various jail sentences from five years to two years against nine of the soldiers,” one of their lawyers, Hashiem al-Jali, told AFP.

All were expelled from the military but a 10th accused was freed for lack of evidence, Jali said.

He added that the heaviest sentence, five years, went to Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim who played a role in the 1989 coup which brought the current regime of President Omar al-Bashir to power.

Most of the detainees are close to a vocal group of former volunteer mujahedeen fighters and an elite group within them called al-Saihun or “tourists for the sake of God.”

They are veterans of the country's 1983-2005 civil war.