Face of Truth | Dr. Ibrahim Shaglawi The President’s Treatment
About two years ago, I wrote an article titled: “Thank You, Mr. President… I Hope You Travel for Treatment.” It was an expression of my conviction that illness should not become an extension of political hostility, and that the man who ruled Sudan for thirty years has the full right to treatment and care, as guaranteed by law and human considerations, regardless of how people differ over his experience. It was not an invocation of political positions as much as it was a position on a humanitarian issue that should remain above calculations.
Today, the matter returns with greater urgency after reports indicated the deterioration of the health condition of former President Field Marshal Omar Al-Bashir, and his transfer from Merowe Hospital to Alia Hospital, on the recommendation of doctors, due to his need for more specialized care and facilities.
From here, the matter goes beyond the transfer of a patient between two hospitals to become a test of the state’s responsibility in dealing with a man who was once its president and commander-in-chief of its army, while his legal and political case ended after the expiration of his sentence.
Sudanese people may differ over Al-Bashir in ways that require no explanation. Some see him as responsible for political and economic failures and crises, and wars that lasted for years, while others see in his era other aspects related to building state institutions and development projects, strengthening the presence of the armed forces, and establishing security.
Between the two positions lies a long history of disagreement, but political disagreement should not confuse justice with revenge. Accountability, if it exists, belongs in the courts, and legal procedures are governed by state institutions. As for treatment, it is a human right that should not be turned into a tool of punishment, political point-scoring, or anything else.
Here, specifically, the value of the state becomes evident. A state that respects itself does not need to keep a patient in critical conditions that are incompatible with his health condition in order to prove that it is firm. True firmness is not in depriving the man of treatment, but in the ability to provide treatment while preserving legal procedures and guarantees of justice.
Al-Bashir was an officer in the armed forces before becoming president of the republic, and he continued to be regarded as a son of this institution. In military culture, comradeship carries a meaning that goes beyond political calculations. A commander is not abandoned in a moment of weakness, and the wounded does not become an enemy merely because the battle has ended. This is a call to restore one of the values that make the military institution an institution of the state.
From here, positions and disagreements must recede, and the human being must remain. We may disagree over Al-Bashir and his policies, but illness does not distinguish between a president, an adversary, and a citizen. If doctors determine that his treatment outside Sudan is necessary, enabling him to do so is neither a favor nor a political settlement, but a humanitarian position that preserves the patient’s dignity. The law can remain present with its guarantees and procedures, without illness becoming another form of punishment. When a human being becomes weak, the morality of the state is revealed.
As we wrote in the introduction, our call for Field Marshal Al-Bashir’s treatment is not out of pity, but out of loyalty to a man who ruled the country for three decades and, during his tenure, preserved its unity, security, and stability, despite ambitions, pressures, and conflicts.
Sudanese people have the right to disagree over his experience, but that does not erase what he accomplished for the benefit of the state in the view of his supporters and broad segments of Sudanese society. The least form of loyalty to a man who spent his life serving the state is for the state to preserve his right to treatment and leave history and politics to assess his experience.
From here, according to #Face_of_Truth, the president’s treatment is neither a favor nor pity, but loyalty to a man who has remained in the memory of many Sudanese as an “ibn balad,” a man of his country, steadfast in his positions, who did not bargain away Sudan, mortgage its decision, or make it vulnerable to blackmail. People disagreed with him politically, but that does not erase what they regard as his positions in preserving the state and its sovereignty. The least form of loyalty is to preserve his dignity and his right to treatment, for a state that knows the worth of its men does not make illness the price of political disagreement. Our prayers for you, Mr. President, for abundant health and a speedy recovery.
May you remain in good health and well-being.
Thursday, October 1, 2026.
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