The passing of the prominent Islamic thinker and head of Sudan’s Popular Congress Party Hassan al-Turabi has provoked diverse reactions from the public.
Turabi, a controversial figure who played an instrumental role in bringing to power the National Islamic Front in 1989 and institutionalizing Sharia law in Sudan, died of a heart attack in Khartoum at age 84.
In our programme Sudan This Week, we spoke to politicians and civil society figures about the legacy of Turabi. Among our guests was Sudan’s Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman, who described Turabi as an important thinker and a man of contradictions.
“Dr. Turabi had more than one colour,” said Mohamed al-Hafiz Mahmoud, a lawyer and former judge, explaining that he could speak eloquently on democracy and human rights but he applied a different politics during the ‘Salvation’ regime of the 1990s. He said the legacy of Turabi was mixed.
Listen in Arabic: