Hassan Turabi

A turbaned Hassan Turabi sinks back into a large, plush sitting-room sofa, his stockinged feet barely touching the floor. It's hard to comprehend that this aging former law professor with a chipmunk grin is the same man condemned by Western leaders as a terrorism-loving extremist and jailed repeatedly by Sudanese dictators he once helped empower. "I'm an old man," the white-bearded Turabi, fresh out of his latest stint in prison, says with unconvincing modesty.

His image shining on billboards promising highways, schools and wealth, President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir takes credit for all that glitters, turning oil money into skyscrapers that rise above his palace in this sweltering capital. Khartoum reflects his aspirations to add a splash of Dubai-inspired architectural panache to an African nation long troubled by famine and war. But the skyline here glimmers only so far; beyond it looms widespread poverty, bloodshed in Darfur and the prospect that in January the mainly Christian south will secede, robbing Bashir of the oil reserves the Islamic north craves.

His image shining on billboards promising highways, schools and wealth, President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir takes credit for all that glitters, turning oil money into skyscrapers that rise above his palace in this sweltering capital. Khartoum reflects his aspirations to add a splash of Dubai-inspired architectural panache to an African nation long troubled by famine and war. But the skyline here glimmers only so far; beyond it looms widespread poverty, bloodshed in Darfur and the prospect that in January the mainly Christian south will secede, robbing Bashir of the oil reserves the Islamic north craves.

Hours after his release from a two-month stint in prison, Sudanese opposition leader Hassan Turabi looked fit and chipper Monday in the reception hall of his Khartoum home. If he was tired at all, it was from the stream of dignitaries, political leaders and family members who came to celebrate his surprise release. One of Africa's most influential and controversial Islamists, Turabi was arrested in January after he called for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir to turn himself over to the International Criminal Court to face prosecution over his government's counter-insurgency campaign in the Darfur region.

Hours after his release from a two-month stint in prison, Sudanese opposition leader Hassan Turabi looked fit and chipper Monday in the reception hall of his Khartoum home. If he was tired at all, it was from the stream of dignitaries, political leaders and family members who came to celebrate his surprise release. One of Africa's most influential and controversial Islamists, Turabi was arrested in January after he called for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir to turn himself over to the International Criminal Court to face prosecution over his government's counter-insurgency campaign in the Darfur region.

Sudan released opposition leader Hassan Turabi without charges after questioning him about a Darfur rebel attack on the capital, Khartoum, according to his party and state media. Turabi and at least 10 other members of his Popular Congress Party members were detained in a government sweep across the city, said Awadh Ba Bakr, a relative and close aide to Turabi.

A suicide bomber killed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric and his bodyguard outside the cleric's home in Karachi, Pakistan, triggering a riot. The cleric, Allama Hassan Turabi, died of his injuries at a hospital. Hundreds of Shiite youths set fire to a state-owned gas station and damaged a bank and some shops, said a local police chief, Tahir Naveed. Pakistan is no stranger to attacks on religious sites and leaders, which are blamed on Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Military officers linked to an Islamic party were plotting to assassinate high-level government figures, a top Sudanese military official said. The ruling National Congress party also leveled accusations of an assassination plot by the Popular Congress party in a statement read on state television. Opposition leader Hassan Turabi's Popular Congress was suspended from political activities after it was loosely linked to military officers arrested on suspicion of planning a coup.

Islamic ideologue Hassan Turabi formed his own party a day after he was replaced as head of Sudan's ruling National Congress party. Thousands of Turabi's supporters gathered outside his house in Khartoum, the capital, to celebrate the founding of the Popular National Congress party. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir has been stripping power from Turabi, a hard-line Islamist and anti-Westerner who was once Sudan's kingmaker.

Hundreds of youths set fire to a Pizza Hut restaurant, two gas stations and a dozen vehicles in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, after a funeral for a Shiite Muslim cleric killed in a suicide attack. Rioters rampaged through a busy commercial area a day after a suicide bomber killed cleric Allama Hassan Turabi, his cousin and a police guard. Police fired shots in the air, swung batons and used tear gas to control the crowd.

A turbaned Hassan Turabi sinks back into a large, plush sitting-room sofa, his stockinged feet barely touching the floor. It's hard to comprehend that this aging former law professor with a chipmunk grin is the same man condemned by Western leaders as a terrorism-loving extremist and jailed repeatedly by Sudanese dictators he once helped empower. "I'm an old man," the white-bearded Turabi, fresh out of his latest stint in prison, says with unconvincing modesty.

Sudan's interim peace accord will lead to the secession of southern Sudan, opposition leader Hassan Turabi said in remarks published Friday. "The agreement dealt a blow to Sudan, the Arab world and Islam, and it will lead inevitably to the division of Sudan," Turabi told Egypt's weekly magazine Al Ahram al Arabi. Turabi, a hard-line Islamist under house arrest, was speaking about the framework accord signed July 20 in Machakos, Kenya, by the state and the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Officials announced the imminent end of a state of emergency across most of the country Thursday and began releasing political prisoners, including the top Islamic opposition figure. Sudan, Africa's largest country in area, has been under a state of emergency since President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir seized power in 1989. Thursday's developments are expected to help prepare for a hand-over to a transitional government that will include former rebels.