Prominent Sudanese politician Hassan al-Turabi, a veteran who formed the Popular Congress Party (PCP), has died in Khartoum at the age of 84.
State-run Omdurman TV says the head of the PCP passed away on Saturday at the Royal Care International Hospital in the Sudanese capital.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
Turabi played a key role in the 1989 coup that brought President Omar al-Bashir to power.
However, the two had a falling-out 10 years later and Turabi became one of his fiercest critics, forming the PCP.
Turabi was the only Sudanese politician to support a warrant issued for Bashir’s arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the regime’s conduct of the conflict in Darfur.
He was detained several times over his political career, including in January 2009, just two days after he urged Bashir to surrender to the ICC.
Turabi held a master’s degree in law from London and a doctorate from Sorbonne University in Paris.
He spoke English, French and German fluently as well as Arabic.
