(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced alarm over the detention of Hussein Khogali, editor-in-chief of the independent Arabic-language daily “Alwan”, who has been held without charge by police in an undisclosed location since 22 November 2004. It is believed Khogali may be in Kober prison, but neither his family nor his lawyer has been allowed to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced alarm over the detention of Hussein Khogali, editor-in-chief of the independent Arabic-language daily “Alwan”, who has been held without charge by police in an undisclosed location since 22 November 2004.
It is believed Khogali may be in Kober prison, but neither his family nor his lawyer has been allowed to contact him. Police also confiscated the entire print run of his newspaper’s 23 November issue.
“We have reason to be worried when, following several months of harassment and surveillance, a journalist is arrested and held in a secret location,” RSF said. “The way they have made Khogali virtually disappear is unacceptable. The Sudanese authorities must say what he is charged with, and whatever the charges, they must guarantee his rights as a citizen.”
Khogali was previously imprisoned for 17 days in September, and was only released on condition he cease writing in his own newspaper. He was told this verbally by members of the National Security Agency (NSA) who, according to a local source, suspected him of continuing to write occasional articles.
Authorities have long considered Khogali to be a sympathiser of Hassan Alturabi, leader of the Islamist opposition group Popular National Congress (PNC). His newspaper has also been viewed as an unofficial mouthpiece of the PNC. But Khogali has always insisted that his newspaper is independent.
Following his September release, the NSA asked Khogali to accuse Alturabi and his party of plotting a coup and sowing discord in the capital, Khartoum, but he refused. NSA agents paid several unannounced visits to the newspaper’s printer in October and November, gathering information and taking away selected articles.
