Relatives of opposition figure Hassan Al-Turabi, leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP), have appealed to the international community as well as Sudanese political forces to set him free.

Sudanese authorities have prevented all but his son Essam Al-Turabi from visiting him. The rest of his family has staged a sit in since his detention last Monday.

Nevertheless, sounding as though in high spirits, Essam told Ahram Online that his father took lightly the declared reasons for his arrest. Sudanese authorities have announced different reasons for Turabi's detention: some related to his ties with the Justice and Equality Movement in Darfur while other reasons cited involvement in planning a series of assassinations and various other violent crimes.

“His arrest is a clear indicator that authorities in Sudan are fearful of a popular uprising turning into a reproduction of what actually happened in Tunisia,” Essam says. Turabi, however, has stressed since 1999 his total rejection to a regime change by means of a military coup.

 “Popular uprising” is his only choice.

Meanwhile, Turabi’s family have reiterated their right to provide needed medical care for Turabi since they are uncertain that Sudanese authorities are willing to do so, describing their alleged claims as “contradictory lies.”