VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #1911 3381355
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041355Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9430

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001911 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SU
SUBJECT: ALMOST FIVE MONTHS LATER, OPPOSITION LEADER RELEASED FROM 
PRISON 
 
REFTELS: KHARTOUM 01109; KHARTOUM 01149 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) After more than four months in Khartoum's Khober Prison, 
accused of plotting a coup against the government but never formally 
charged, Umma Party Reform and Renewal leader Mubarak al-Fadil 
al-Mahdi has been released. On December 2, family members told 
poloff that his release seemed imminent, and that they and other 
supporters would congregate at the prison that evening to welcome 
him. More than one thousand people, including government figures and 
journalists, gathered at the scene. At around nine in the evening, 
al-Fadil walked out of the prison and left for his residence. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Twenty-eight others arrested with al-Fadil remain in 
detention, including Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deputy Ali 
Hassanein. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On December 3, poloff met with family members to discuss 
al-Fadil's release. Elated and tired, they confirmed that all 
charges against al-Fadil had been dropped due to lack of evidence. 
Minister of Justice Mohamed al-Mardi had signed the release papers 
himself (though in typically byzantine Sudanese fashion, he had not 
bothered to actually send the papers to the prison; one of 
al-Fadil's nephews was dispatched to al-Mardi's residence, woke him 
from a nap, and personally collected the papers). 
 
¶4. (SBU) Al-Fadil's release comes at a critical time for the 
Sudanese government and President al-Bashir personally; the regime 
has taken a beating in the international arena over its handling of 
the "teddy bear scandal," alleged UNAMID deployment backpedaling and 
the latest NCP-SPLM rift. According to the family, Egypt's President 
Mubarak advised Bashir to release al-Fadil (and the others jailed 
with him) during their most recent meeting in Cairo, as did Libyan 
president Qaddafi. Why create yet another crisis, they reportedly 
told Bashir. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The SPLM had also been pressuring the government to release 
the prisoners; while this pressure was helpful, it also delayed 
al-Fadil's release, according to the family. When the SPLM walked 
out of the GNU some five weeks ago, the NCP used the prisoners' 
detention as a punitive tool, they said, and refused to release 
them. Now, with the NCP and SPLM edging towards a possible improved 
working relationship, it seems that the release of al-Fadil is part 
of an NCP carrot-versus-stick strategy. Family members also said the 
government thought al-Fadil would have been meddlesome had he been 
released during the height of the NCP-SPLM rift. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Family members surmised that al-Fadil was arrested as a 
distraction over the government's acceptance of UNSCR 1769, as well 
as "punishment" for being too allied with the U.S. (Note: Nafie Ali 
Nafie also accused the U.S. of being behind the alleged coup 
attempt; see reftels. End note). As previously reported, the arrests 
of such high-level opposition figures was also seen as an attempt to 
thwart their efforts at party unification before the 2009 elections. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) One family member said that presidential advisor Mustafa 
Osman Ismail told him that the whole affair was "embarrassing," and 
that he and other regime officials were constantly being confronted 
on the issue. Media and social pressure on the government had also 
become increasingly persistent, with the Arab Organization for Human 
Rights condemning the continued detention in September. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: While al-Fadil's release is welcome news, the 
international community must continue to press for the release of 
Ali Hassanein and the other 27 individuals who remain imprisoned. 
With the charges against al-Fadil completely dropped, it now seems 
possible that the others could be quietly released, perhaps in small 
groups, in the coming weeks and months. Though al-Fadil's release 
may have been a conciliatory gesture towards the SPLM on the part of 
the NCP other SPLM political figures recently arrested remain in 
custody.  (Note: Though al-Fadil is from a splinter Umma group, the 
SPLM had pushed for his release along with their own members in 
custody.) 
 
FERNANDEZ