Government drops case against Turabi

Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir has suspended legal action against opposition leader Hasan al-Turabi and four of his colleagues, news agencies reported on Monday. Bashir was quoted as saying that he was suspending the cases against the Popular National Congress (PNC) officials and would release all, "except those who the country's supreme interest necessitates their continued detention". Turabi, however, was kept in "precautionary detention" under the National Security Act, which could keep the radical Islamist scholar in detention for another four months, AFP said. The five men had been in detention since February facing charges of attempting to undermine the constitution and waging war against the state, crimes punishable by death in Sudan, AFP said. The charges were brought after Turabi's PNC signed a memorandum of understanding with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), which undertook to step up "peaceful popular resistance" in Sudan. Turabi helped Bashir seize power in a bloodless coup d'etat in 1989. However, following a power struggle, Bashir dismissed Turabi from his post as parliamentary speaker in December 2000, and expelled him from the ruling National Congress party several months later.