Sudan arrests more Islamist figures

February 2, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP) on Sunday said that the authorities arrested a leading member of the party in connection with the ongoing investigations on the 1989 coup that brought to power the ousted president, Omer al-Bashir.

Omer Abdel-Marouf was taken from his home in al-Manshiya suburb in Khartoum state by a police force on Sunday, for questioning regarding participation in planning the coup, and then he was transferred to Kober Prison.

He is the third PCP leader who is arrested under the Islamist coup’s investigation. The authorities have already arrested both PCP General Secretary Ali al-Haj and the head of the PCP Shura Council, Ibrahim al-Sanoussi.

Abdel-Marouf was one of the Islamists that were actively involved in the coup that toppled the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi in 1989.

Ten years later, he split with the party leader and formed the PCP.

At the time, he was responsible for the security offices for the National Islamic Front (NIF) supervised by Awad Ahmed al-Jaz who is also currently under arrest.

The NIF like many other Islamist groups had a secret security body. It is believed that this service was closely linked to the planning and implementation of the coup.

Last week, the office of the General Attorney summoned al-Bashir’s former first vice president, Bakri Hassan Saleh, before to put him in jail, after his refusal to respond to the investigation committee.

Threats to wage war

On Saturday the Sudanese Islamic Movement, a coalition of the Islamist groups in Sudan, condemned the recent reforms enacted by the transitional government to release freedoms and repealing some legislations.

The Movement further said they would not allow the return of Sudanese society to the ignorance imposed by the colonizer in the fifties and sixties of the last century.

“The Islamic movement has presented tens of thousands of martyrs for the sake of this religion and for the sake of the security of this country. We will not allow the kidnapping of the will of this Muslim people, and we are ready to provide more,” stressed the statement.

“We hope that we do not have to face a confrontation that will be horrible for you,” further said the statement.

(ST)