Sudan’s Transitional Military Council dismissed on Tuesday the three highest-ranking public prosecutors.
In a statement, the TMC said council chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid.
Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud was appointed to carry out Abdelsalam’s duties, it said. Mahmoud’s background was not immediately known.
Protesters have been demanding an overhaul of the judiciary as part of steps towards civilian government.
The Sudanese Professionals’ Association spearheading the revolt has issued a long list of demands for wholesale change to end repression and ease an economic crisis after the military deposed veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir last week.
In its first news conference on Monday, the SPA - which led weeks of protests that led to Bashir’s overthrow after 30 years in power - called for the TMC to be dissolved in favor of an interim civilian ruling council with military representatives.
It also called for Abdelsalam’s removal along with the chief of the judiciary and his deputies, and added that mass protests would not cease until the demands were met. The judiciary chief was not mentioned in the TMC statement.
On Tuesday, hundreds of University of Khartoum professors carrying signs reading “civilian transitional government” and “democracy” marched to a protesters’ sit-in outside the Defense Ministry that began on April 6, a Reuters witness said.
Academics are among the most respected groups in Sudanese society, adding powerful symbolism to the march.
In Washington, the State Department said the United State will consider removing Sudan from the state sponsor of terrorism list if there are significant changes in its government and after a smooth political transition.
“We will be willing to look at removing Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism if there is significant change in the country and a smooth transition,” the official told Reuters.
The Trump administration has suspended talks on normalizing relations with Sudan after the military deposed Bashir last week.
Sudan was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 under former US President Bill Clinton.
Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed an envoy to Sudan to work with the African Union on mediating an end to the crisis.
Nicholas Haysom, a South African lawyer who has served as UN envoy in Somalia, Afghanistan as well as for Sudan and South Sudan, will support AU-led mediation efforts between the military and civil society, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The African Union has called on Sudan's military to hand over power to a civilian government within 15 days and strongly condemned the army takeover as a coup d'etat.
The AU peace and security council has threatened to suspend Sudan from the 55-nation organization if it does not move to establish civilian rule.
"The African Union put out a very clear statement," Dujarric told reporters. Haysom will "do whatever he can to support their efforts."
