TEXT: Sudanese professor challenges Bashir’s eligibility to run for president

February 2, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – A retired Sudanese professor filed a challenge with the National Elections Committee (NEC) last week arguing that president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir does not meet the requirements set forth by the electoral law.

Dr. Mu’tasim Abdullah Mahmoud who was a professor in the University of Khartoum asserted in his brief that Bashir is not a person of good moral character citing specific incidents since he came to power in 1989 to demonstrate this.

Furthermore, Mahmoud stresses that Bashir’s status as an individual indicted by the International Criminal Court puts restrictions on his movement which would “affect the country’s reputation and interests”.

This is the first known challenge of its kind made against the Sudanese head of state whose ruling National Congress Party (NCP) seems confident that he would have a landslide victory in the April elections.

Bashir will run against nine other candidates including Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) deputy Secretary General Yasir Arman. The NCP is reportedly pressing the SPLM to withdraw Arman in return for concessions with regard to the dispute over the census results.

Below is the text of the widely circulated challenge filed with the NEC*.

In The Name Of Allah The Most Compassionate The Most Merciful

Blessed Greetings,

A challenge to the nomination of retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir for the office of President.

I am the Sudanese citizen, Dr. Mu’tasim Abdullah Mahmoud, registered in the polling station of Shambat West, and would like to raise with you my challenge to the eligibility of the above-mentioned citizen objecting to his nomination for the post of the president in the upcoming elections of April 2010, based on the following:

(1) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir was the head of the military coup of June 1989. He has mislead and deceived the people of Sudan by stating that the coup was carried out by the armed forces and was not the work of the National Islamic Front (NIF) at that time. But he later reversed that position and admitted after the split that occurred in the National Congress Party in 1999 that he was an organized (NIF) member and was a follower of Dr. Hassan al-Turabi [Popular Congress Party leader]. He said in an interview with the participants in the Second Forum of Sudanese journalists working abroad convened in Khartoum, in response to a question on the role of al-Turabi to bring together the government with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in order to solve the problem of Darfur: “We know Turabi the most….we were his disciples, obeying his instructions to turn to the right or to the left, and we were disciplined in the implementation of the instructions.” Since a lie is a manifestation of corrupt morals, therefore he should not be entitled to the nomination for the presidency.

(2) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir has made a recorded verbal admission during his meeting with the Sudanese journalists working abroad on 13/5/2009 acknowledging the existence of the secret prisons known as “The Ghost Houses”, as he promised the ending of that era. This has also been documented by the journalist Fath Al-Rahman Shabarqa in Al-Rayaam newspaper issue of 5/14/2009, in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat by journalist Talha Jibril, issue of 8/13/2009, and by Mr. Fathi Al- Dhaw in al-Ahdath newspaper issue of 5/28/2009. This statement makes retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir carrying the serious legal responsibility for the inhumane practices that have taken place in these secret prisons and for maintaining silence on these crimes. For proof of this I refer you to the letter of Dr. Farouk Mohammed Ibrahim, a professor at the University of Khartoum, on 11/13/2000 to President Omar al-Bashir, about his torture and others in those camps. Because the candidate retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir did not stop the injustice against those citizens who suffered from torture in the secret prisons called The Ghost Houses, which were administered by the security apparatus that fell under his supreme power, he has failed to stand by the oppressed and stayed silent about the truth, which makes him ineligible for nomination to the office of President.

(3) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, in his capacity as Chairman of the Government of National Salvation, is responsible for what resulted from the unfair dismissal and the displacement of state employees without reference to the governing bodies of accountability and labor departments in the country. To demonstrate his direct involvement in this act violating basic human rights by dismissing the devoted national employees I recall the cases of: Professor Samir Ibrahim Gabriel and Professor Mohamed Al-Amin El-Tom, who were working at the University of Khartoum in 1992 and his acknowledgment that the actions required for public dismissal have been ignored, as it has been documented in As-Sahafa newspaper issue of 5/21/2000. The candidate, retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, has ordered the dismissal of the above-mentioned and others like them. This demonstrates the lack of neutrality and exploitation of power to get rid of opponents. Therefore, he is not eligible for nomination to the post of President of the Republic.

(4) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was head of the Salvation Revolution Command Council, when twenty-eight officers of the armed forces were executed on charges of a coup d’état against the regime that came to power as a result of a coup. They were not given fair trials, as the trials lasted only a few hours of a single day. The commitments made to them by the negotiators were not honored. It may be recalled here what had been negotiated with the martyr officer Hussein Al-Kadaru, and those who negotiated with him are still alive and well. The candidate, Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, is primarily responsible for the breach of those covenants, and the reckless conduct during those trials. Therefore, he is not eligible for nomination to the post of President of the Republic.

(5) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was head of the Salvation Revolution Command Council, when Sudanese nationals have been executed because they owned or traded in hard currency. Then the government of the Salvation regime later reversed its action and allowed the public to deal in hard currency. As a result of this senseless act, innocent lives were lost and are still calling for accountability and retribution. . Specifically I refer to the execution of the late citizen, Magdi Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub, who was convicted of the existence of hard currency in the safe of the deceased and his father’s family home. The candidate, retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, is primarily responsible for this abuse of power and excessive brutality in punishment, disproportionate to the actions, amounting to taking the lives of citizens, which is an overly harsh behavior that detaches away from wisdom and logical morality. Therefore, he is not eligible for nomination to the post of President of the Republic.

6) Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was indicted on charges of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur by the International Criminal Court in March 4, 2009, and an international warrant against him for his arrest was issued . Since that date, his participation as the first representative of the Sudan in international forums, became limited and calculated depending on the anticipated consequences. According to the newspaper Ajras al-Hurriya, issue of 9/30//2009, his adviser, Dr. Ghazi Salah al-Din acknowledged that “the arrest warrant issued by the court undermined the president’s plans to travel and forced him to study the course of any trip he intended to do out of the country.” The candidate Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir declined to visit four countries, namely South Africa, Venezuela, Uganda, and the United States. He did not attend the last meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. He is therefore restricted in his movement, and will remain so because the arrest warrant from International Criminal Court has no statute of limitations. He is now a fugitive from justice in the eyes of this court. Because this candidate is going through this critical situation, that would affect the country’s reputation and interests, he therefore becomes ineligible for nomination to the post of President of the Republic.

Based on the foregoing objections to the nomination of Retired Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir for the post of President of the Republic in the upcoming elections in April 2010, I ask this Committee to withdraw his nomination from the final list of candidates for the position.

Dr. Mu’ttasim Abdullah Mahmoud
Retired university professor
University of Khartoum

*Translation provided courtesy of Badreddin Osman Musa

(ST)