Hope for Sudan's most infamous Islamist jailbird can now be found in his unlikely secularist rival, writes Gamal Nkrumah In an ironic twist of fate, the family of imprisoned Sudanese Islamist ideologue Hassan Al-Turabi appealed this week for help from the secularist leader of Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), John Garang. Turabi, once widely dreaded as the man who put thousands of Sudanese behind bars, now languishes in Khartoum's notorious Al-Khober prison. It is bitter twist for Turabi that his redemption now rests in the hands of his erstwhile ideological foe. Long branded as the chief enemy of Islam in Sudan, Garang is now in the curious position of appealing on behalf of the godfather of Sudan's militant Islamists with the regime of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir, itself Islamist in orientation. The SPLA leader gallantly took up his former foe's cause with the Sudanese authorities. Turabi's humbling predicament and Garang's big-hearted magnanimity greatly enhances Garang's standing in the Sudanese political arena. Turabi, leader of the opposition Islamist Popular Congress Party, was first arrested in 2001 under emergency law imposed by the Sudanese regime. His detention irreversibly split the Sudanese Islamist forces into two opposing camps -- the ruling National Congress Party of Sudanese President Al-Beshir and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Al-Turabi. The two parties became deadly political enemies even though they drew their support from the same constituency and shared ideological turf. To complicate matters further, Turabi was originally arrested because he initiated a peace dialogue with the SPLA. But no sooner was Turabi locked behind bars than the Sudanese government followed Turabi's lead and approached the SPLA, suing for peace. Turabi was once the mentor of the Sudanese president and leading Sudanese cabinet ministers in his capacity as the now defunct National Islamic Front (NIF) leader and Speaker of the Sudanese parliament. The NIF promulgated a series of laws that turned Sudan into a fully-fledged Islamist state, much to the chagrin of Sudan's secularist opposition groups, including the SPLA. Turabi's deputy in the PCP, Ali Al-Hajj, who managed to escape the clutches of the Sudanese regime and who now lives in exile in Germany, recently issued a plea for the international community and human rights organisations to step up the campaign to release Turabi. Al-Hajj said that since the Machakos Protocols contains a bill of rights, signatories should abide by its letter and spirit. Al- Hajj, who hails from Sudan's war-torn westernmost province of Darfur, also pointed out that the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur could only be contained by advancing the cause of human rights and democracy in Sudan. "We, the family, friends and followers of Hassan Al-Turabi are very concerned about the deplorable conditions in Al-Khober prison, Khartoum," Awad Babiker, Turabi's personal assistant told Al- Ahram Weekly. Babiker said that Turabi is in solitary confinement and is not allowed to meet with or speak to family or friends. "He does not have access to writing paper or pens," Babiker explained. "He is only permitted to read Sudanese government newspapers. He is denied access to all foreign publications and Sudanese opposition papers. He is allowed to keep a few books to read and he has a copy of the Quran," Babiker said. Pens or no pens, Turabi is a prolific writer who has written extensively while in prison. He has produced several treatises since his incarceration on the concept of jihad, on terrorism and 11 September and on religious rites in Islam. Turabi has also completed a book entitled Politics and Government recounting the history and political significance of the rise to power and 12-year rule of the NIF. Babiker said that Turabi has access to television and enjoys watching CNN, the BBC and pan-Arab satellite television channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya . According to Babiker, prison authorities permit the Al-Turabi household to send him home cooked food on a daily basis. He does not eat prison food. "He only eats one meal a day, but he has access to snacks. He is generally a poor eater, anyway," Babiker explained. As a devout Muslim and religious leader Turabi, in accordance to the Sunnah tradition of the Prophet Mohamed, fasts Mondays and Thursdays. His family sends his iftar before sunset when Muslims break their fast. Turabi's wife, Wasila, met at the head of a family delegation with Sudanese Home Affairs Minister Abdul-Rahim Mohamed Hussein and complained about the deplorable prison conditions suffered by her husband. Turabi's family, friends and followers are especially incensed by the wall encircling his prison cell built by prison authorities purposely to cut Turabi off from other inmates. But Babiker notes that while the Sudanese home affairs minister listened attentively and sympathetically to Al-Turabi family complaints, he has not been successful in persuading prison authorities to stop the completion of the wall encircling Turabi's cell. Babiker said that Turabi was once the mentor of the home affairs minister, thus he suspects that the Sudanese security apparatus overruled the minister, even though he is supposed to be their superior. Babiker disclosed that it now transpires that the Sudanese security apparatus was behind the assassination attempt on Turabi in Canada in 1992. Sudanese authorities, he said, are spreading ominous rumours that Turabi is either dead or dying. Babiker said that he last saw Turabi ten days ago and that he appeared to be in good health and high spirits. "His only complaint was of a toothache." Turabi's son Essam also telephoned Garang and requested that the SPLA leader intervene with the Sudanese government on his father's behalf. The PCP and Turabi's family hold the Sudanese government, security apparatus and Al-Khober prison authorities responsible for Turabi's safety and wellbeing. Some of Turabi's imprisoned followers have fared far worse than their leader. Babiker also noted that the conditions of several leading members of the PCP currently incarcerated by the regime is even worse than that of the PCP leader himself. Adam Al-Taher Hamdoun, a former minister of trade under the NIF regime before it split into two rival factions, and onetime responsible for the Sudanese peace file, languishes in Shendi prison, northern Sudan. Another prominent PCP leader now in prison is Omar Abdel- Marouf, a former Sudanese minister of defence who suffers from diabetes and who is now incarcerated in Wad Madani, central Sudan. High-profile Sudanese prisoners are kept apart -- many languishing in jails in remote corners of the vast country, Africa's largest.
