The family of Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir said on Wednesday that his health had deteriorated and that he urgently needed medical treatment outside the country.
The family said in a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj that medical reports and developments in Bashir’s health condition indicated that treatment abroad had become necessary and should not be delayed.
The family also said it had received no official notification approving Bashir’s travel abroad, despite reports that authorities had given permission.
The family appealed to army chief and Sovereign Council head Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to consider Bashir’s health and allow him to receive the treatment he needs abroad.
It also renewed calls for Bashir’s release, saying he had spent nearly eight years in detention.
Bashir’s lawyer, Mohamed Hassan al-Amin, said earlier on Wednesday that military authorities had given initial approval for the former president to travel abroad for medical treatment, but that the decision had not yet been implemented. He said final approval would be required from senior political and military leaders.
Al-Amin said Bashir, 82, had symptoms requiring tests and medical procedures that are not currently available in Sudan. He said Bashir is receiving treatment at Aliaa Military Hospital in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, after being transferred from the northern town of Merowe.
Sudan’s healthcare system has been severely disrupted by the war, with medical facilities and supplies affected by fighting and displacement.
Bashir seized power in a 1989 military coup and ruled Sudan for three decades before he was ousted in April 2019 after months of mass protests.
He was later convicted by a Sudanese court on corruption-related charges and has faced proceedings over the 1989 coup. Those proceedings were disrupted by the war that erupted in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Bashir on charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the conflict in Darfur. He denies the allegations.
In September 2024, authorities transferred Bashir and other former officials from the Wadi Seidna military area near Omdurman to Merowe for medical treatment. Two of those officials, former first vice-president Bakri Hassan Saleh and retired Brigadier General Youssef Abdel Fattah, were released on health grounds in April 2025.
and then