Sudanese opposition chief Turabi freed from house arrest
By MOHAMED OSMAN Associated Press Writer
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Oct. 13, 2003 (AP) — A hard-line Islamic leader and top opposition figure, Hassan Turabi, was pardoned Monday after more than two years under house arrest as part of a release of political prisoners.
Hundreds of supporters greeted Turabi outside his home in the capital, hugging him and shouting, “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” Sheep were slaughtered to welcome the leader on his return.
Turabi was once a top ally of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir and the main architect of the Islamic fundamentalist government that was set up in the 1990s. But in 1999, the two had a falling out; el-Bashir accused Turabi, the speaker of parliament, of trying to grab power and stripped him of his position.
The release came amid a reform drive by el-Bashir, seen as an effort to bring northern opposition groups into a united front to strengthen his government in peace talks with southern rebels.
Abdel-Salam Gizouli, Turabi’s lawyer, told The Associated Press on Monday that el-Bashir pardoned Turabi, leader of the Popular Congress Party, and seven other political detainees.
“The country has freed any person detained for political reasons,” state-run Radio Omdurman announced.
“I will continue working for the same principles for which I was arrested: democracy, freedom of expression and human rights,” the smiling, healthy-looking Turabi – dressed in a white robe and turban – told reporters at his home.
The Sudanese government has taken steps toward political reform in recent months, releasing 32 other political prisoners in August, ending newspaper censorship and lifting a travel ban on some opposition politicians.
The United States has pressured countries in the region to reform, saying granting citizens political rights could lessen the social alienation that leads some to terrorism – Sudan is on the U.S. list of terror-sponsoring states. For many leaders, the toppling of Iraq’s dictator underlined U.S. seriousness about change.
Turabi was first detained Feb. 21, 2001, a day after announcing his party had signed a peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the main rebel group fighting Sudan’s government since 1983 for greater autonomy for the largely animist and Christian south. Turabi was placed under house arrest three months later.
The latest peace process with southern rebels began in July 2002 when the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army reached the Machakos Protocol, under which the government accepted the right of southerners to self-determination through a referendum after six years. In turn, the rebels accepted the maintenance of Islamic law, or Shariah, in the north.
An estimated 2 million people have died in the civil war, mainly through war-induced famine and disease.