Security agents briefly detained a senior leader of Sudan's main opposition party Wednesday, her family said, as authorities pressed on with a crackdown on anti-government protests that have rocked the country.
Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi, deputy chief of the Umma party, had been taken away from her home in Khartoum by officers of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), her sister Rabah Sadiq al-Mahdi told AFP.
"I now confirm that my sister has been released. She had been taken to the headquarters of NISS for questioning," Rabah said.
As Umma's deputy head, Mariam has regularly campaigned against President Omar al-Bashir's government.
Her father, former premier Sadiq al-Mahdi, has backed the ongoing protest movement calling for an end to Bashir's three-decade rule.
Bashir swept to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed coup that toppled a democratically-elected government led by Mahdi.
"This regime has to go immediately," Mahdi told hundreds of worshipers at a mosque in Omdurman at weekly prayers last Friday.
After nearly a year in exile, Mahdi returned to Sudan on December 19, the same day as the wave of protests erupted against the government.
On Tuesday, NISS head Salah Ghosh had ordered the release of all detainees held during anti-government rallies.
It was still unclear how many detainees had been released.
Rights groups say more than 1,000 protesters, opposition leaders, activists and journalists have been arrested in an NISS-led crackdown to quell the protests.
Deadly protests have rocked Sudan for weeks, with officials confirming the deaths of 30 people in clashes with security forces during the demonstrations.
Rights groups have put the death toll at more than 40.
The protests that initially erupted against the rise of bread prices have mushroomed into nationwide rallies calling for an end to Bashir's rule.
AFP
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