Key Sudanese opposition leader released: aide

KHARTOUM, Oct 13 (AFP) — The Sudanese government freed Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi after more than two years of detention Monday, and lifted a ban on his Popular Congress party’s activities, a top aide said.

“A presidential decree was issued Monday for the release of Popular Congress leader Sheikh Hassan al-Turabi and other detainees, and the lifting of an embargo on activities of the party,” Popular Congress deputy secretary general Abdullah Hassan Ahmed told AFP.

Ahmed gave no details of the other prisoners freed but earlier reports said four people would be released with Turabi.

The Islamist leader headed from the state guest house where he had been kept under house arrest to his party’s headquarters, which were expected to be allowed to reopen, Ahmed said.

President Omar al-Beshir’s decree also paved the way for the party’s newspaper to return to newsstands, he added.
Turabi, an Islamist ideologue with influence beyond Sudan’s borders, backed the 1989 military coup that brought Beshir to power but was removed from key political posts after losing a power struggle with the president in 1999.

Turabi was arrested along with many of his followers in February 2001 after his party signed a deal in Switzerland with southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Turabi portrayed the deal as aimed at promoting democracy and ending Sudan’s 20-year-old civil war.

Since July last year, the Sudanese government and the SPLA have made major strides of their own toward ending the war, with government officials here predicting a final peace agreement within weeks.