Sudan lifts suspension of English-language daily

KHARTOUM, Oct 16 (AFP) — The Sudanese authorities have lifted a suspension of the Khartoum Monitor, the English-language newspaper’s chief editor said Thursday.

Prosecutor general Al-Rasheid Ahmed al-Rasheid ruled that the grounds for suspension were inconsistent with the criminal procedures code which provides for a warning before imposing the suspension, Alfred Taban told AFP.

Athough the prosecutor also ordered the documents of the case be sent to the attorney’s office for further investigation, Taban was optimistic the abrogation of the suspension would be upheld.

He added he planned to have the newspaper appear on the newsstands Saturday.

“The National Press Council and the security authority both welcomed the decision and said they respect the judiciary and would not mind that the Monitor resume publication when I told them of my decision,” Taban said.

On September 13, a court of appeal scrapped a Khartoum criminal court ruling which imposed fines on two Monitor journalists and withdrew the paper’s licence, but a prosecutor order the paper not to publish until an investigation was over.

The paper was shut down on July 12 when the journalists were fined 500,000 pounds (about 200 dollars) each, a sum which Taban has said they would demand to be refunded.

The Monitor was accused of publishing articles which violated Sudan’s penal code. The authorities had lodged a complaint over an interview published last year with a former minister from southern Sudan criticising the government.