Sudan's Bashir swears in new minister decades after executing his father over coup plot

Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir has sworn in new a minister - nearly three decades he ordered the execution of his father for plotting a military coup against him.

Bashir appointed Ahmed Mohamed Osman Hamid Karrar as the head of the country's ministry of social security and development, the official SUNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

According to The New Arab's Arabic-language service, Karrar is the son of the Mohamed Osman Hamid Karrar, who was an alleged leader in a 1990 foiled coup attempt.

Mohamed Karrar was executed by firing squad a day after he and 29 other officers were arrested for the plot against Bashir - who had himself seized power in a military coup less than a year earlier.

The newly appointed minister refused to comment on his father's execution but a source close to him told The New Arab that Karar has "long overcome the incident".

According to the official narrative, the 1990 failed coup was led by a group of military officers loyal to the deposed prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

Sudanese authorities arrested the 30 officers before they could carry out the plot.

The next day a military court found them guilty of trying to overthrow Bashir's regime and they were hastily executed.

Families of the coup plotters have long demanded Sudanese authorities disclose the whereabouts of the bodies of the executed and called for an international probe into the incident.

Bashir, 74, has remained in power since the 1989 military coup.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and genocide in the conflict-wracked western region of Darfur.