Sudan’s Turabi ‘arrested’ after attack on Khartoum

By:

The New Sudan Vision (NSV), www.newsudanvision.com

May 11, 2008 (Khartoum NSV) - The opposition leader of Popular Congress Party (PC), Hassan Turabi has been arrested on Monday with four other officials of PC, Reuters reports.

"Security forces came early this morning and arrested Turabi," Awad Babiker, Turabi's private secretary, told Reuters.
On Saturday, the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels waged an attack on Khartoum, marking the first time any rebel has ever penetrated the Sudan’s capital.
Turabi was arrested just an hour after returning from his party’s meeting, his son Siddig al-Turabi has said to a news agency.
"They want to blame the party for what has happened," said Siddig al-Turabi.
Turabi, the Islamic idealogue and brain behind the National Islamic Front that brought Omar Bashir to power, after he ousted Saadig Al Mahdi in a bloodless coup in 1989. Turabi was then arrested in 1999-2000 in a bitter fight for power.