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Sudan's president has freed his former ally, Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, who was detained last year in connection with an alleged coup plot.

" the release of all political detainees," said Omar al-Bashir, marking the 16th anniversary of the coup which brought him to power.

Mr Turabi is a controversial figure in Sudanese politics and has spent much of the last five years in detention.

His party, the Popular National Congress (PNC), confirmed his release.

Mr Turabi was once a close colleague of President Bashir but he lost out in a power struggle between the two in 1999.

His most recent spell in detention began in March last year, amid government allegations that he had been involved in a foiled coup attempt in September 2003.

Ban lifted

"He has been released from the place he was being held and he is on his way to the headquarters of the party," his secretary Awad Babiker said.

Mr Turabi denies involvement in a coup plot, but he has openly criticised government policy in Darfur, where pro-government militias have forced a million people to flee their homes.

He fell out with Mr Bashir following the introduction of a bill to limit the president's powers in 1999, a move which the president resisted by dissolving parliament and declaring a state of emergency.

Since then, Mr Turabi's outspoken style has led to him spending most of his time either under house arrest or in prison.

Earlier on Thursday, a ban on the activities of the PNC - which Mr Turabi formed after being suspended from Mr Bashir's party - was lifted.

This comes as an interim government prepares to take over on 9 July as a result of the peace deal between the government and southern rebels.

"July 9, God willing, will see the signing of the constitution that will govern the transitional period," Mr Bashir said in his televised speech, adding that after this the state of emergency would be lifted.

Correspondents say the political climate in Khartoum has improved since the peace agreement was signed in January, which ended 21 years of civil war in the south.