Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi dies at 84

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM

Prominent Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi passed away in Khartoum on Saturday evening. He was 84 years old.

Sudanese state media confirmed the death of al-Turabi, who was admitted to a Khartoum hospital earlier in the day.

Kamal Omar, a spokesman for the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) of which al-Turabi was a founder, confirmed his death, telling Anadolu Agency that the leader had died after suffering a heart attack on Saturday afternoon at the party’s headquarters.

Al-Turabi, he added, would be buried in Khartoum on Sunday morning.

Sudanese state television, meanwhile, has announced a state of official mourning.

Born in 1932, al-Turabi was one of the world’s most prominent Islamic leaders and one of Sudan’s best known political figures.

He was a main founder of Sudan’s Islamist movement before the country’s independence in 1956.

Elected to Sudan’s parliament in 1965, al-Turabi’s political career spanned several decades.

From 1996 to 1999, he held the post of parliamentary speaker.

Al-Turabi is widely believed to have played a key role in the military coup that brought Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to power in 1989.

During his life, he wrote several books devoted to the interpretation of the Quran and other theological issues.