Ex-Sudan Leader Reported Missing

Former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadek Mahdi, deposed in a military coup June 30, was taken from Khartoum’s Kober prison last weekend and has not been heard from since, his cousin said Wednesday.

Mubarak Mahdi, former interior minister and Mahdi’s cousin, said that officers of the ruling junta last week took the former prime minister to a remote area and fired bullets around him in a mock execution.

“Reports from Khartoum have confirmed that he (Mahdi) was taken again at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8, and no news of his fate has been received at the time of writing this release,” Mubarak Mahdi said in a statement.

Sadek Mahdi was Sudan’s prime minister for three years until he was deposed in the coup.