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Sudan briefly detains Islamist for alleged rebel links

By MOHAMED OSMAN

Associated Press Writer
In this Sunday, July 17, 2005 file photo, Hassan Turabi speaks to the Associated Press after being released from a year and a half of house arrest for allegedly plotting a coup, in Khartoum, Sudan. Hassan Turabi, the leader of the Sudanese opposition Popular Congress Party, was arrested at his house in the early hours of Monday, May 12, 2008, according to his party, apparently because of his links to Darfur rebels who attacked close to the capital this week.
Abd Raouf, File/AP Photo
In this Sunday, July 17, 2005 file photo, Hassan Turabi speaks to the Associated Press after being released from a year and a half of house arrest for allegedly plotting a coup, in Khartoum, Sudan. Hassan Turabi, the leader of the Sudanese opposition Popular Congress Party, was arrested at his house in the early hours of Monday, May 12, 2008, according to his party, apparently because of his links to Darfur rebels who attacked close to the capital this week.
Two injured men who were detained by government forces in Khartoum are seen in this image taken from Sudan TV on Sunday May 11, 2008. Hundreds of rebels from the war-ravaged Darfur area clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Khartoum Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year old conflict. It was the first foray by a rebel group once confined to Sudan's western Darfur region into the seat of the Sudanese government. A member of the security forces passes a burned-out truck in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the scene of a rebel assault Saturday night, in Sudan Sunday, May 11, 2008. Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city. Members of the security forces walk past burned-out vehicles and damaged buildings in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the scene of a rebel assault Saturday night, in Sudan Sunday, May 11, 2008. Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city. Map locates Khartoum and Omdurman, SUdan where rebels threaten government forces; 1c x 5 1/2 inches; 46 mm x 140; with ; Artist; ETA 4 p.m. ; 1c x 5 1/2 inches; 46.5 mm x 139.7 mm A member of the security forces in a passing vehicle raises his gun in the air in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the scene of a rebel assault Saturday night, in Sudan Sunday, May 11, 2008. Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city. A Sudanese tank sits in position in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the scene of a rebel assault Saturday night, in Sudan Sunday, May 11, 2008. Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city. A injured man who was detained by government forces in Khartoum is seen in this image taken from Sudan TV on Sunday May 11, 2008. Hundreds of rebels from the war-ravaged Darfur area clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Khartoum Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year old conflict. It was the first foray by a rebel group once confined to Sudan's western Darfur region into the seat of the Sudanese government. A rebel vehicle is seen in flames after clashes with Sudanese government security forces in Khartoum in this image taken from Sudan TV on Sunday May 11, 2008. Hundreds of rebels from the war-ravaged Darfur area clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Khartoum Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year old conflict. It was the first foray by a rebel group once confined to Sudan's western Darfur region into the seat of the Sudanese government. A Sudanese security force officer is surrounded by his men after clashes with rebels in Khartoum in this image taken from Sudan TV on Sunday May 11, 2008. Hundreds of rebels from the war-ravaged Darfur area clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Khartoum Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year old conflict. It was the first foray by a rebel group once confined to Sudan's western Darfur region into the seat of the Sudanese government. A Sudanese woman walks past a member of the security forces as he speaks on a mobile telephone on top of an armored personnel carrier in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the scene of a rebel assault Saturday night, in Sudan Sunday, May 11, 2008. Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city. In this image from Sudan TV, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in a televised address Sunday May 11, 2008, wearing military fatigues said "I would like to assure people that everything is now under control, the rebel forces have been totally destroyed." Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city.

KHARTOUM, Sudan --

Sudan briefly detained its leading fundamentalist Islamic ideologue on Monday, accusing him of aiding a Darfur rebel attack on the capital but then releasing him without charge, according to his party and state media.

Hassan Turabi was arrested after dawn at his home in Khartoum and at least 10 other members of his Popular Congress Party members were detained in a government sweep across the city, said Awadh Ba Bakr, a relative and close aide to Turabi. Bakr says al-Turabi was questioned by security and released without charges about 15 hours later.

Turabi is believed to wield influence with Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, whose fighters launched an unprecedented attack Saturday near Khartoum, hundreds of miles from their bases in the country's far west.

The attack was the closest Darfur rebels have ever come to the seat of Sudan's government, which they accuse of marginalizing ethnic African minorities and worsening the area's humanitarian crisis.

Sudan's official news agency quoted unidentified government officials as saying that rebels already in custody implicated Turabi and other party members as part of a "conspiracy." Interrogations were underway, it said.

Turabi, who has a doctorate from the Sorbonne, is one of the founders of Islamist politics in Sudan and provided the ideological basis for President Omar al-Bashir's coup and the creation of an Islamic state in 1989.

Both he and Ibrahim were once part of the regime, and as fellow Islamists, ideological allies.

Ibrahim, however, denounced the Sudanese government in 1999 for its Arab bias against ethnic Africans and resigned from the government and eventually taking up arms.

Ibrahim maintained he and Turabi, an ethnic Arab with a Darfuri wife, still had their differences.

During the early 1990s, Sudan was accused of sheltering Islamic militant groups; Osama bin Laden made his home here until the government threw him out in 1996. Turabi backed Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War, a move that helped make Sudan a pariah state.

Turabi fell out with al-Bashir in 1999 and has since been in and out of prison on various charges, and under house arrest. He was never sentenced, and remains influential.

El Deeb contributed from Cairo, Egypt.