Sudan says Islamists’ release still under review

KHARTOUM, July 17 (AFP) — Sudan’s caretaker justice minister said Sunday that the cases of 45 jailed Islamists, who had been expected to be freed following the lifting of a state of emergency earlier this month, were still under review.

Sudan’s Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Yassin.

Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin said that the detainees from the opposition Popular Congress would only be freed if they had been arrested under emergency powers that were now defunct.

The ending of the emergency on July 9 “necessitated the release of everyone who has been arrested under the state of emergency law,” he said.

Popular Congress leader Hassan al-Turabi was freed from prison on June 30, 15 months after his arrest over an alleged coup plot.

His release came ahead of the promulgation of a new power-sharing constitution by President Omar al-Beshir that prompted the lifting of the emergency.

In an address marking the anniversary of the 1989 coup that brought him to power, Beshir had promised: “All political detainees will be released.”

The new constitution followed a landmark January peace accord with southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army that brought to an end Africa’s longest-running war.