VZCZCXRO5999
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0103 0271406
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271406Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2782
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000103 
 
DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: TURABI MOVED TO PORT SUDAN, FAMILY DEFIANT 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 58 
B) KHARTOUM 49 
 
¶1. (SBU) On January 25, Sudanese authorities transferred Dr. Hassan 
Al-Turabi from Khartoum's Kober prison to the political detainees' 
wing in Port Sudan's prison, in the eastern part of the country. 
Turabi, the outspoken Islamist who was once a founding father of the 
present regime, but now its bitter opponent, was jailed on January 
14 after calling on Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir to assume 
responsibility before the ICC for war crimes in Darfur.  According 
to Turabi's son, Siddiq Al-Turabi, Sudanese authorities have not yet 
charged the 77 year-old founder of the opposition People's Congress 
Party (PCP) with any crime, and the younger Turabi accused the GOS 
of intending to detain his father indefinitely.  According to the 
son, the family learned that authorities had moved Turabi to Port 
Sudan only upon attempting to deliver food to him on January 25; 
authorities then refused the family permission to visit him at the 
prison located on Sudan's Red Sea coast.  On January 26 the GOS 
relented, and family members boarded a flIght to Port Sudan with 
plans to temporarily relocate there to visit him regularly and 
assist with his care. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Siddiq Al-Turabi told poloff that his family is gravely 
concerned with the move, as they said Dr. Hassan Al-Turabi is 
currently in poor health, and the decaying prison in Port Sudan is 
generally considered the worst among Sudan's motley crew of 
detention facilities.  In a statement distributed to media and the 
international community in Khartoum, the family claimed that the GOS 
was denying Turabi vital medicines and special meals.  In addition 
to detaining Al-Turabi without charges, GOS authorities are still 
holding Dr. Beshier Adam Rahma, the PCP's secretary of foreign 
relations, in solitary confinement at Khartoum's Kober prison. 
While Sudanese authorities have yet to interfere further with the 
operations of Turabi's PCP (other than arresting its leader and his 
right-hand man), his son said the GOS is "spraying accusations" at 
the opposition party, accusing it of collaborating to overthrow the 
NCP regime. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Comment: Once a founding father of the regime, and now its 
most famous "guest," the verbose Islamist is still widely popular 
within Sudan.  Lost likely, the regime sent Turabi to Port Sudan to 
isolate him from his supporters in Khartoum, some of whom remain 
closely connected with the NCP regime to this day.  Eventually the 
regime will have to relent and release Turabi, but for now it is 
making a point: comments critical of the President in regard to the 
ICC (not to mention alleged support for the JEM rebel group) will 
not be tolerated. End comment. 
 
FERNANDEZ