In a video posted on his Facebook page, Misbah Abuzaid Talha, commander of the Al-Baraa Brigade, which fights alongside the Sudanese army, showed his support and encouragement for a group that attacked Abdullah Hamdok, former Sudanese Prime Minister and head of the Coordination of Civilian Forces (Taqaddam), and a number of Sudanese during a seminar held on Thursday in the British capital London as part of efforts to stop the ongoing war in Sudan since mid-April 2023.
Talha spoke in a video with a group of assailants in London, saying, “Everyone on his mountain is a shooter,” and wrote on the video, “Baraun in any hut,” anywhere. “A clear message of support.”
According to Mohammed al-Mukhtar Mohammed, a journalist specialized in fact-checking and disinformation, the video carries a clear message of support for the attacking group and shows the extent of the extremism of the Baraa Battalion elements and its spread, and its prominence in the political and military scene after the war.
He explained to Sky News Arabia: “Members of this battalion have appeared in a number of European and Arab countries chanting their songs and adopting an extremist stance against civilian forces calling for an end to the war.”
Social media activists published photos of people who appeared among the assailants, whom Talha was addressing, and said that among them was a swimming coach who was serving a sentence in a Khartoum prison after being convicted of raping two children, and it is believed that he arrived in London after he was released from the prison, which was opened by an armed group and a number of convicted and awaiting members of the former regime, including 28 members of the security service who were awaiting a death sentence after they were convicted of killing a teacher in a gruesome manner in a security service detention center during the popular movement that overthrew the Brotherhood regime in 2019.
According to legal expert Ismail Mudawi, the recording and publication of the footage of the attack by the commander of the Al-Baraa Brigade, and his celebration of what happened via social media, demonstrates the intention to influence, intimidate, spread and encourage extremism and the use of violence to achieve political, religious or ideological goals in ways that aim to provoke terror.
Mudawi explains: “The attempt to attack Hamdok and his entourage indicates the use of violence and possibly threats to achieve a political effect, such as obstructing peace efforts and stopping the war, which can be interpreted as an attempt to terrorize the British government and Sudanese people.”
Mudawi warns that “extremist ideologies or linked to armed groups in Sudan, such as the Al-Buraa battalion, work to exploit some ‘fragile’ elements and employ them abroad to send messages through violence or threats.
He told Sky News Arabia: “The group that tried to attack Hamdok and his entourage is mostly made up of young elements and some newcomers to the UK, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by parties with interests inside Sudan, which may indicate ideological or political motives behind the incident.”
