Armed men kidnap Sudanese paper editor

Sept 6, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Unknown armed men have kidnapped a Sudanese newspaper editor, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

Mohamed Taha was arrested last year and his al-Wifaq paper closed for three months after it published a series of articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammed, which were condemned by Sudan’s powerful Islamists.

“His family filed a report saying he was kidnapped last night by unknown armed men,” an Interior Ministry official said. He added the investigation was ongoing.

Local papers quoted his family as saying a group of armed men bundled Taha into a car outside his home in Khartoum north late on Tuesday and sped off towards central Khartoum.

Kidnapping of civilians was common in Sudan’s war-torn west and south during large-scale conflict there, but is very rare in the capital Khartoum.

Mohamed Taha is an ally of the government, which took power in a military coup in 1989. The government in northern Sudan follows strict Sharia law but has been opposed by some Islamist organisations.

One source in the Islamic community in Khartoum told Reuters that while Taha was in jail last year, he was protected by government soldiers who feared for his life.

(Reuters)