Sudan’s justice minister faces dwindling support – Columnist

By Wasil Ali

May 23, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese justice Minster Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi is losing support among the ranks of the government, a leading columnist told Sudan Tribune.

Osman Mirghani of the daily Al-Sudani newspaper said that Al-Mardi’s showed himself to be of “questionable credibility” as a result of his actions. Mirghani made these statements following his release from prison after four days of interrogation.

Sudanese authorities detained the editor in chief of Al-Sudani newspaper Mahjoub Urwah and columnist Osman Mirghani last week after publishing a column criticizing Al-Mardi and calling on him to resign for lying about a money-laundering trial.

The Sudanese government also ordered the closure of Al-Sudani on the same day before allowing it to resume operations Wednesday. The newspaper was suspended last year when Mirghani criticized the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir for rejecting the deployment of UN peacekeepers.

Mirghani said he has stands firm on his view that Al-Mardi is a liar and should resign. He added that the Sudanese justice minister interfered in the money-laundering trial by withdrawing the case from court after falsely claiming that the defense concurred with that. Mirghani declined to speculate on the motives behind Al-Mardi’s actions in a response to a question by Sudan Tribune.

Al-Mardi issued a statement saying that what he did was in line with his powers bestowed upon him by law. He added that three counsels from the defense submitted a request in writing from Al-Mardi to terminate judicial proceedings for this case. The defense team denied that any such request has been made.

The prominent columnist said that there are increasing calls from attorneys, parliament and journalist for Al-Mardi to step down. Mirghani added that influential figures in the Sudanese government are not satisfied with Al-Mardi’s handling of the Darfur case in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He stressed that the justice minister approached the ICC in a political manner rather than a legal one. Mirghani said that Al-Mardi was trying to “over-please” the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) given that he is a defector from the Northern Umma Party.

Al-Mardi is best known for the fiery statements he made following the indictments by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Ahmed Muhammed Harun the Sudanese minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib.

The Sudanese justice minister said that the ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo “can soak his evidence in water and drink it”.

(ST)