Sudanese authorities on Saturday accused detained opposition leader and Islamic fundamentalist Hassan Turabi of inciting sedition, sabotage, hatred against the state and undermining the regime.
The official Sudan Media Center said in a statement that the government has lodged a complaint against Turabi, who was detained on Wednesday after police also arrested members of his Popular Congress party and some military officers in an alleged plot to overthrow President Omar el-Bashir.
It is the first time the government has accused the detained opposition leader of involvement in specific criminal acts.
Turabi is expected to be questioned further regarding the accusations before authorities decide whether he should face trial.
The head of Turabi's legal team, Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, criticized the government's decision to arrest Turabi and called for a "fair, just and open trial" if the case goes to court.
"We are all against this detention, in which the government resorted to using state of emergency-like [powers]," Hassanain told reporters.
The media center said a Khartoum criminal law attorney will handle the case against Turabi.
Human rights activist Ghazi Suleiman denounced the arrests and criticized the government for denying family members and lawyers access to the detainees.
"As to the saying that [Turabi] is behind the coup, I have yet to see any sign of a coup in the streets of Khartoum and I have yet to see the government providing us with names and proof," Suleiman, head of the independent Sudanese Human Rights Group, told reporters.
The government has arrested about 30 people in relation to the alleged coup plan, including Turabi, senior members of his party, policemen and soldiers. Authorities also closed the party's Khartoum headquarters and provincial offices.
Turabi's party has denied any involvement in the alleged coup attempt. The party said the alleged plot involved members of the security forces in the western province of Darfur, where local tribes have been in revolt since early last year.
Turabi was the main ideologue of the Islamic fundamentalist government that was set up after el-Bashir seized power in 1989. The two men fell out in 1999 when el-Bashir accused Turabi, then the speaker of parliament, of trying to grab power and stripped him of his position.
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