(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, RSF protested the arrest of BBC and Reuters correspondent Alfred Taban and Niel Paul, general manager of the independent daily “The Khartoum Monitor”. “This is the third time since the beginning of the year that Alfred Taban has been arrested for […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, RSF protested the arrest of BBC and Reuters correspondent Alfred Taban and Niel Paul, general manager of the independent daily “The Khartoum Monitor”. “This is the third time since the beginning of the year that Alfred Taban has been arrested for no reason. If the regime has something against these journalists it has to say so clearly,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard stated. He called for the journalists’ immediate release.
According to information collected by RSF, during the night of 24 October 2001, Taban was arrested at home by plainclothes security members. Paul was also arrested the same night. The authorities did not give any reason for these arrests.
On 24 February, Taban was arrested and held for a few hours. On 12 April he was arrested again and released five days later with no explanation. “The Khartoum Monitor” is the only English-language daily in Sudan. It is famous for its criticism of government policies, especially concerning the south of the country (see IFEX alerts of 16 and 12 April 2001).