Face time: Hassan al-Turabi

Hassan al-Turabi, an Islamist leader and erstwhile politician, was arrested by Sudanese authorities in Khartoum last Monday following an audacious attack on Khartoum by the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).  He was released after 15 hours of questioning and was not directly tied to the attack.  Turabi is notable for his extreme Islamist views; he invited Osama bin Laden to Sudan in 1991 after bin Laden was forced to leave Saudi Arabia for protesting the presence of American troops on the Arabian peninsula.  Turabi was close to the Sudanese government of Omar al-Bashir following the 1989 coup d'etat but fell out during the late 1990s.  In 2004, he was arrested and placed in prison for over a year.  There are suspicions - especially amongst the political elite in Khartoum - that Turabi is supportive of certain rebel groups in Darfur, perhaps seeking the eventual overthrow of the government.  Turabi, who during the 1990s wanted Sudan to become the seat of political Islam, has been disenchanted by the pragmatic (that is, non-ideological) streak in the current Sudanese leadership.