For a man considered by some as yesterday's Islamist, Hassan al-Turabi shows little inclination towards a quiet retirement.

The 74-year-old former eminence grise of the Sudan regime and one-time host of Osama bin Laden has been infuriating Muslim traditionalists worldwide, earning accusations of apostasy on Sunday by Sudan government-approved clerics. He has provoked their anger by championing equal rights for women, including the right of Muslim women to marry outside their religion, pray alongside men and adopt a more liberal attitude to the veil. Mr Turabi also managed to cast a shadow over last month's annual summit of Arab leaders in Khartoum with the suggestion that highly placed officials in the host regime were implicated in a 1995 assassination attempt on Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.