Sudanese security forces arrested Sudan's top Islamist opposition leader Monday night after he called for a Tunisia-style uprising in the country, family members said Tuesday. Hassan Turabi and his bodyguard were taken into custody around midnight Monday, according to Turabi's wife, Wessal Al-Mahdi. She said the bodyguard, who was released early Tuesday, had bruises on his face and claimed he had been beaten while in custody. Turabi, meanwhile, remains in detention. Turabi's son, Siddiq, said around eight other members of Turabi's Islamic Popular Congress Party (PCP) also were arrested. Turabi has spoken out recently against President Omar Al-Bashir's government and has called for a popular revolution similar to the one in Tunisia that ousted the country's authoritarian president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. A recent hike in the price of oil and basic commodities has sparked protests by university students and calls for the resignation of local officials. BM
