Prominent Sudanese politician, Hassan al-Turabi was buried yesterday in a cemetery east of the capital, Khartoum, following a funeral attended by thousands of mourners.

Turabi died on Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 84.

He once played a major role in the 1989 coup that brought President Omar al-Bashir to power.

However, the two close allies later became bitter foes, and Turabi became the only Sudanese politician to support a warrant for Bashir’s arrest by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes.

Turabi also at one time hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, although the group was later expelled from Sudan under United States pressure in 1996. Turabi, who supported radical Islam in the 1990s, remade himself as a mainstream politician.