Sudan journo murders executed

2009-04-13 18:58

Khartoum - Nine Sudanese men convicted of murdering a prominent journalist in 2006 were hanged on Monday in a Khartoum prison, a relative of the victim told AFP.

"I saw the nine hang," the witness said on condition of anonymity.

The hanging took place at the Kober prison in Khartoum-North in presence of family members of Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed but journalists were not allowed to witness the execution.

Ahmed's decapitated body was found in the capital Khartoum in September 2006, a day after he was abducted by armed men from his home in north Khartoum.

The former chief editor of the pro-Islamist newspaper Al-Wifaq, he was considered close to the Muslim Brotherhood and had strained ties with the government of President Omar al-Beshir.

Ten people were sentenced to death in November 2007 for Ahmed's murder and beheading at the end of a trial that lasted nine months, but one of the suspects was later acquitted.

The accused were members of the Fur tribe from the troubled region of Darfur.

Ahmed had angered rebels in Darfur after articles harshly criticising them were published in his newspaper.

The journalist had been arrested in 2005 after being accused of writing an article on the family of the Prophet Mohammed, and publication of his newspaper was suspended by the Sudanese authorities.

- AFP