Authorities lift ban on al-Sudani news paper
Feb 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese authorities lifted yesterday a three-day ban on an independent Sudanese daily newspaper. The daily resumed publication today.
The ministry of justice Saturday lifted the suspension placed on Al-Sudani, allowing it to resume publication. The newspaper pledged not to report on the murder case of the former chief editor of Al-Wifaq newspaper, Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, and to abide by the prosecution’s decision to ban reports on the case.
The ministry of justice general prosecutor, Salaheddin Abu-Zaid, further ordered that the case be returned to the prosecution for examination based on a request put forward to the ministry of justice by Al-Sudani’s legal adviser, Omar Abdallah al-Sheikh.
The Sudanese press council condemned the suspension. The head of the council reaffirmed that the decision was an illegal move that had bypassed the press council’s powers.
A state prosecutor imposed an immediate ban on the prominent Arabic-language Al-Sudani which carried an article on January 31 discussing the murder of Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of the private daily Al-Wifaq, in violation of an official ban on writing about the case.
The prosecutor said the paper violated Article 39 of Sudan’s provisional constitution and provisions in the 2004 Press and Publication Act regarding harming “public interests and professional ethics” and “inciting religious and ethnic hatred.” He said he had imposed the ban under Article 130 of the 1991 Code of Criminal Procedure to “prevent any influence on the procedures that are still before the investigative authorities.”
(ST)