page_title: Hassan Al-Turabi
section_title: Imprisonment and later years
hierarchical_section_title: Hassan Al-Turabi / Decline of influence / Imprisonment and later years
caption_attribution_description: English: Hassan Al Turabi (1 February 1932 – 5 March 2016) , Islamist leader, in his private home in Shambat, Khartoum, Sudan, one year before his death
context_page_description: Hassan 'Abd Allah al Turabi was a Sudanese Islamist politician who was crucial in the success of the 1989 coup that brought Omar Al-Bashir to power. He has been called "one of the most influential figures in modern Sudanese politics", and a "longtime hard-line ideological leader". He was instrumental in institutionalizing sharia in the northern part of the country and was frequently imprisoned in Sudan, but these "periods of detention" were "interspersed with periods of high political office".
  Al-Turabi was leader of the National Islamic Front, a political movement that developed considerable political power in Sudan while never obtaining significant popularity among Sudanese voters. It embraced a "top down" approach to Islamisation by placing party members in high posts in government and security services. Turabi and the NIF reached the peak of their power from 1989 following a military coup d'état, until 2001, as what observers have called "the power behind the throne", head of the only Sunni Islamist movement to take control of a state.
context_section_description: After a political falling out with President Omar al-Bashir in 1999, Al-Turabi was imprisoned based on allegations of conspiracy before being released in October 2003. Arrested again in 2004 for allegedly being part of a plot to overthrow the government. He was released on 28 June 2005.
  In 2004 he was reported to have been associated with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), an Islamist armed rebel group involved in the Darfur conflict, whose leader (Khalil Ibrahim) used to be one of Mr Turabi's followers. Al-Turabi himself has denied any association. Turabi spent 16 months in prison from 2004 until 28 June 2005, during which time he spent several weeks on hunger strike.
  After the JEM attacked Khartoum and Omdurman on 10 May 2008, Al-Turabi was arrested on the morning of 12 May 2008, along with other members of his Popular Congress Party (PCP). He said that he had expected the arrest, which occurred while he was returning to Khartoum from a PCP gathering in Sennar. He was questioned and released without charge later in the day, after about 12 hours in detention.
  Presidential advisor Mustaf Osman Ismail said that al-Turabi's name had been found on JEM documents, but he denied that al-Turabi had been arrested, asserting that he had merely been "summoned" for questioning. Al-Turabi, however, said that it was an arrest and that he had been held at Kober. According to al-Turabi, he was questioned regarding the relationship between the PCP and JEM, but he did not answer this question, although he denied that there was a relationship after his release; he also said that he was asked why he did not condemn the rebel attack. He said that the security officers questioning him had "terrified" him and that, although they claimed to have proof against him, they did not show him this proof when he asked to see it.
  Salva Kiir Mayardit, the First Vice-President of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan, said that there had been no discussion about arresting al-Turabi at a presidency meeting on the previous day and that there was no security report implicating him. He alleged that al-Turabi was being used as a scapegoat.
  In an interview on 17 May 2008, al-Turabi described the JEM's attack on Khartoum as "positive" and said that there was "so much misery in Darfur, genocidal measures actually". He also said that the JEM attack could spark more unrest.
  On 12 January 2009, al-Turabi called on Bashir to surrender himself to the International Criminal Court for the sake of the country, while holding Bashir politically responsible for war crimes in Darfur. (He later changed his position and opposes Bashir turning himself in.) He was then arrested on 14 January and held in prison for two months (until 8 March) at the Kober prison before being moved to Port Sudan prison.
  During this time members of his family expressed concern about his health (he is 75) and his being held in solitary confinement at least some of the time. Amnesty International also released a statement about al-Turabi's arrest on 16 January, describing it as "arbitrary" and politically motivated. Noting al-Turabi's advanced age and his need for medication and a special diet. The Sudanese Media Centre reported on 19 January that al-Turabi would be put on trial for his alleged assistance to the JEM.
  On 8 March, he was released only days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir. On 11 April 2009, the PCP called for the creation of a transitional government to lead Sudan to the planned 2010 election, and al-Turabi suggested that he would not stand as a candidate due to his advanced age; he emphasized the importance of leadership coming from younger generations and said that he did not have enough energy to run. In April al-Turabi was stopped at Khartoum airport and prevented from travelling to Paris for medical tests despite having obtained permission to travel from the interior ministry.
  Al-Turabi announced on 2 January 2010 that the PCP had designated his deputy, Abdallah Deng Nhial, as its candidate for the 2010 
caption: Turabi at his private home in Shambat, Khartoum, one year before his death
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