Authorities release Al-Ayyam paper editor-in-chief

Authorities release Al-Ayyam paper editor-in-chief

By Sudanese opposition Democratic Unionist Party web site

KHARTOUM, Jan 16, 2004 — The public prosecution office yesterday released the editor-in- chief of the independent Sudanese newspaper, Al-Ayyam, after the editor paid outstanding taxes amounting to 100m Sudanese pounds (40,000 US dollars).

The day before yesterday, the prosecution office arrested Mahjub Muhammad Salih, 85, for having failed to remit his newspaper tax duties.

The newspaper has been suspended for more than a month.

His release took place after a campaign led by a group of peace activists called the “Fellowship Association”, of which Salih is also a member.

A number of pioneers in the Sudanese press and some of Salih’s colleagues and friends paid the amount to the prosecution office.

BBC Monitoring Newsfile