Omar al-Bashir Granted Preliminary Approval to Leave Sudan for Medical Care

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan's military authorities have given preliminary approval for former president Omar al-Bashir to travel abroad for medical treatment, a member of his defence team said Wednesday, although the decision has not yet been implemented.

Lawyer Mohamed El-Hassan El-Amin said Bashir, 82, required medical examinations and procedures that were not available in Sudan. He said the former president was not currently in critical condition but was suffering symptoms that required specialist tests.

El-Amin said Bashir's defence team had submitted a request for permission to travel abroad for treatment and received an initial approval. But he said the decision still required final authorisation from senior military and political leaders before it could be carried out.

The lawyer said the defence team was continuing to press authorities to approve Bashir's medical travel and release him from detention for treatment.

The claim was disputed by Bashir's family, which said Wednesday that it had received no official notification approving his departure from Sudan.

The family said recent medical reports indicated that treatment abroad had become urgent and appealed directly to army chief and Sovereign Council head General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to allow the former president to leave the country for medical care.

The differing accounts leave unclear whether any formal government authorisation has been issued. Bashir's lawyer described the approval as preliminary, while his family said it had not been notified of any official decision. 

Bashir was ousted in April 2019 after months of mass protests that brought an end to his nearly three decades in power. He had seized power in a military coup in 1989.

He has remained in detention since the war between Sudan's armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023. Legal proceedings against Bashir and several former officials over the 1989 coup were suspended after the conflict broke out. 

In September 2024, military authorities transferred Bashir and several former senior officials from the Wadi Sayidna military area in Omdurman to a hospital in the northern city of Merowe because of deteriorating health.

Those transferred included former first vice president Bakri Hassan Saleh, former defence minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein and retired brigadier general Yousif Abdel Fattah. Saleh and Abdel Fattah were later released on medical grounds in April 2025.

Bashir was subsequently moved back to the Khartoum area and is now receiving treatment while remaining in military custody at Aliaa Specialist Hospital in Omdurman, according to his lawyer.

The former president also remains subject to International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued over allegations relating to the conflict in Darfur. His possible departure for medical treatment would therefore carry wider legal and political implications, although the immediate issue remains whether Sudan's military leadership will give final approval for the trip.

GAROWE ONLINE