Newspaper forced shut after call to kill leader of SPLM Northern Sector

April 26, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese intelligence officials shut down the pro-government daily newspaper al-Wifaq after its editor called for the death of the leader of the largest opposition bloc in the national assembly.

The editor of the paper, Isaac Ahmed Fadlallah, faced a temporary ban from writing, apparently because of an editorial published Saturday in which he called for the death of the politician Yasser Arman.

Arman, head of the parliamentary caucus of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and leader of its operations in northern Sudan, faced the ire of some Arabic-language media for having opposed provisions of Shari’a religious law included in the draft law on adultery during a Tuesday session of parliament.

SPLM is part if Sudan’s unity government but it has opposed versions of legislation advanced by the ruling National Congress Party, such as measures related to the press, national security, and criminal penalties.

Arman maintains that the punishment of flogging for adultery should not apply to non-Muslims. This position, which reflects the secular orientation of the SPLM, prompted Fadlallah’s editorial, as well as calls from Islamic scholars to put Arman on trial.

However, it is unclear why intelligence officials targeted the newspaper, which is close to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of Sudan. According to one SPLM official who spoke with Sudan Tribune on Thursday, Arman was facing death threats from “hardliners in the NCP.”

“He is being terrorized right now in Khartoum,” said Ruben Marial Benjamin, a political affairs officer at the of the Government of Southern Sudan Mission, in Washington

But the state-run Sudan Media Centre said that al-Wifaq was closed on orders from General Salah Mohammed, a senior member of the country’s intelligence apparatus.

(ST)