\n The verdict in the corruption trial of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir is to be delivered on December 14, a judge announced Saturday, as his supporters staged a protest outside the court.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir, who was overthrown by the army in April, has been on trial in a Khartoum court since August on charges of illegally acquiring and using foreign funds -- offences that could land him behind bars for more than a decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n Several hearings have been held, including one on Saturday, in the presence of the deposed leader who followed the proceedings from inside a metal cage.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It has been decided that on December 14 a session will be held to deliver the verdict,\" judge Sadeq Abdelrahman said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Authorities seized 6.9 million euros, $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds ($128,000) from Bashir's home, Abdelrahman said at the start of the trial in August.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir said at the time that the funds were the remainder of $25 million received from Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.\n<\/p>\n
\n The aid, he said, formed part of Sudan's strategic relations with Saudi Arabia and were \"not used for private interests but as donations\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Several defence witnesses testified in court, some backing up Bashir's account.\n<\/p>\n
\n Against the backdrop of trial in Khartoum, calls have grown from global rights groups, activists and victims of the war in Darfur to transfer Bashir to The Hague-based International Criminal Court.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'No, No to ICC' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir is wanted by the ICC for his alleged role in the Darfur war that broke out in 2003 as ethnic African rebels took up arms against Bashir's then Arab-dominated government, accusing it of marginalising the region economically and politically.\n<\/p>\n
\n Khartoum applied what rights groups say was a scorched earth policy against ethnic groups suspected of supporting the rebels -- raping, killing, looting and burning villages.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ICC has accused Bashir of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the vast western region of Darfur. He denies the charges.\n<\/p>\n
\n About 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced in the conflict, according to the United Nations.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Saturday, dozens of Bashir's supporters carrying his portraits held a protest outside the court, vowing to oppose any move by Sudan's new authorities to hand him over to the ICC.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We are with you. We will never betray you. No, no to ICC,\" chanted the crowd as the former president was brought to the courthouse for the hearing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"President Bashir represents the whole of Sudan. We have an independent judiciary and if any trials are to be held, they must be held here,\" said demonstrator Mohamed Ali Daklai.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We reject any outside or foreign tribunal. ICC is anyway a political court used by Western countries to pressure the weak.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir was ousted following nationwide protests against his iron-fisted rule of three decades.\n<\/p>\n
\n The army generals who initially seized power after the president's fall refused to hand 75-year-old Bashir over to the ICC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The verdict in the corruption trial of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir is to be delivered on December 14, a judge announced Saturday, as his supporters staged a protest outside the court. Bashir, who was overthrown by the army in April, has been on trial in a Khartoum court since August on charges of illegally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-42926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n