Sudan's prime minister, detained after coup, returns home

Sudan's deposed prime minister and his wife were allowed to return home Tuesday after being detained when the military seized power in a coup, officials said.

The release of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and his wife followed international condemnation of the coup and calls for the military to release all the government officials who were detained when Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan seized power on Monday.

Burhan had said earlier Tuesday that Hamdok had been held for his own safety and would be released. But he warned that other members of the dissolved government could face trial as protests against the putsch continued in the streets.

Hamdok and his wife were returned to their home in Khartoum's upscale Kafouri neighborhood, and the house was under “heavy security,” said a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. The official did not say whether they were free to leave or make calls. An official at Hamdok's office and pro-democracy activist Nazim Siraj confirmed his return home.

The military seized power Monday in a move that was widely denounced abroad. On Tuesday, pro-democracy demonstrators blocked roads in the capital of Khartoum with makeshift barricades and burning tires. Troops fired on crowds a day earlier, killing four protesters, according to doctors.