To allude to the integrity of Umma Party leader Sadig Al-Mahdi is to invoke an authority of talismanic psychology among a vast segment of Sudanese society. Al-Mahdi is venerated by many as the head of a Sudanese Sufi Muslim Order, Al-Ansar, who owe allegiance to him as the Imam of Al-Ansar and the great-grandson of Mohamed Ahmed Al-Mahdi, the historic Sudanese figure who led a successful campaign against the British and Egyptian authorities — who were the colonial rulers of Sudan at the time — and culminated in the storming of Khartoum in January 1885. Al-Mahdi is not simply a spiritual leader; he is a former prime minister of Sudan between 1966 and 1967 and again between 1986 and 1989, and the leader of perhaps the largest and most organised political party in the country today, Al-Umma Party, apart from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). He leads one of the most important opposition political parties in contemporary Sudan. Therefore, his arrest at his home and subsequent incarceration this week provoked Sudanese opposition outrage and widespread condemnation by many African Union member states. Al-Mahdi was imprisoned last Saturday because he allegedly criticised Sudan's security apparatus, “damaging the reputation” of the state security agencies and charging them with fomenting violence in war-torn Darfur where the Sudanese government is fighting motley armed opposition groups. The chief mediator of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, flew to Khartoum and on Sunday urged the Sudanese authorities to release Al-Mahdi, pleading to meet Al-Mahdi in person. “Mbeki expressed concerns at Al-Mahdi's detention and the effect of this move on dialogue in Sudan,” Al-Mahdi's daughter Mariam, also the head of communications at Al-Umma Party, was quoted as saying. Mariam Al-Mahdi was referring to the process of “national dialogue” instigated by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and the NCP in January. Al-Mahdi was one of the main opposition figures to agree to parley with the government. Indeed, his own son, Abdul-Rahman Al-Mahdi, is presidential advisor to Al-Bashir. In April, the Sudanese president met with key opposition party leaders, including Al-Mahdi, in Khartoum and pledged broader freedoms for the country's political forces. Al-Mahdi's detention contradicts Al-Bashir's promise to release all political detainees not convicted of criminal offences. Indeed, even Hassan Al-Turabi, the erstwhile political rival, brother-in-law, and leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP), criticised the Sudanese government's incarceration of the 78-year old Al-Mahdi. “This is the latest outrage of the government,” Al-Turabi told Al-Ahram Weekly. “This spells the end of the national dialogue process. And the credibility of the government is now in doubt,” he added. Al-Turabi, although suspicious of the true motives behind President Al-Bashir's overtures at “national dialogue” with opposition parties, was nevertheless willing to give Al-Bashir a chance and did participate in talks with the government. The incarceration of Al-Mahdi poses tough questions about how the Sudanese opposition parties should handle the government in an increasingly insecure political future. Al-Bashir's government reneged on its earlier promises to secure a freer political climate and a more democratic dispensation. Al-Mahdi touched on a raw nerve when he mentioned Darfur, ravaged by war, and the main reason the Sudanese president is wanted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague. Al-Bashir's conduct of the war is widely criticised internationally and there are many who believe that he must be brought to book. “We never trusted the NCP, or Al-Bashir for that matter. That is why we did not participate in the so-called national dialogue,” veteran Sudanese politician and chairman of the opposition alliance the National Consensus Forces, Farouk Abou-Eissa, told the Weekly. Abou-Eissa met with Mbeki and so did Al-Turabi as well as the leaders of other opposition groups. They all stressed their opposition to one-party rule in Sudan and were severely critical of the incarceration of Al-Mahdi. The arrest of Al-Mahdi, imprisoned at Kober (Cooper) Prison in Khartoum, comes a week after a pregnant Sudanese woman who claims to be Christian, but authorities maintain is a Muslim convert to Christianity, was sentenced to 100 lashes and faces the death penalty to be deferred until after she gives birth. She was judged to be an apostate for marrying a South Sudanese Christian. The case of Mariam Ibrahim, the convicted Christian woman, has received worldwide attention and human rights organisations and the United Nations have expressed grave concern for her health and wellbeing. Ibrahim is a medical practitioner and is in her eighth month of pregnancy, incarcerated with her 20-month-old son in Omdurman's Women Prison. The case is cited as yet another example of gross violations of human rights and atrocities committed by the militant Islamist Sudanese government.
