Press Release

State violence and security repression gives rise to increasing brutality:
SHRO condemns the murder of the Islamist journalist Mohamed Taha

SEPTEMBER 6, 2006

The Sudanese journalist Mohamed Taha had been kidnapped and then murdered by unknown kidnappers this morning in Khartoum. The journalist’s body was abandoned in a remote place south of Khartoum; his head was chopped off his body. The victim’s family, which reported the kidnapping to the ministry of interior yesterday, and a large number of citizens, has been waiting at the Khartoum Mortuary to receive his remains.

The murder of journalist Taha is closely related by many reporters to his criticisms in Al-Wifaq Journal regarding the policies of the ruling party, the NIF/Congress, in general, and the most recent sugar and petrol price rise that in his view “has largely devastated the life of people.”

Taha open criticisms of the ruling regime came about in the light of escalated tensions between the opposition and the state managers of the ruling party. Recently, deep divisions have been increased by the government’s handling of the Darfur crisis, non-cooperation with the International Community, and the non-implementation of the Naivasha Peace Agreements.

The Sudan Human Rights Organization Cairo Office condemns in the strongest terms possible the murder of the Islamist journalist Mohamed Taha, which uncovers the savagery, ruthlessness, and chaotic violence, as well as the non-democratic confrontational climates that the NIF/Congress-led Government continues to develop for political purposes in Darfur, Eastern Sudan, and the Manasir area, in addition to the ongoing suppression of the peaceful demonstrations of the opposition in the National Capitol Khartoum.

The Organization asks the government to carry out a judicial investigation on the murder of journalist Mohamed Taha which has been related by his family and other sources to documented confrontations between the murdered journalist and identifiable senior government officials in the NIF/Congress ruling party and the State Security Department.

SHRO-Cairo asks the government to respect the right of people to protest government policies in accordance with the provisions of the Interim Constitution that clearly guarantee the full enjoyment of people to the exercise of human rights and public freedoms without discrimination.