 Jailed Sudanese politician Hasan al-Turabi will be released soon once the government ends a state of emergency, Sudan's foreign minister said in remarks published on Saturday. Sudan has been under a state of emergency since 1999, a measure which allows the government to detain people without charge. The government promised to end emergency law after a peace deal signed in January to end a civil war in the south. Al-Turabi, a former ally of President Umar Hasan al-Bashir, was jailed last September after the government accused his party of attempting a coup and of involvement in a separate rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region, which started two years ago. Foreign Relations Minister Mustafa Usman Ismail told the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that Sudan would release al-Turabi and all political prisoners as emergency laws were lifted. "Now we are moving to a stage in which we will lift the state of emergency and not use any exceptional laws. When we reach this stage then Dr al-Turabi, certainly, and all those remaining will be released," he said. |