August 1, 2005

Beja writer detained by authorities

Security Officers from Sinkat, Red Sea State, Eastern Sudan questioned a published Beja writer at their offices about his book that reputedly held some pages of text that were critical of the government. The title of the book by 63 year old Mr. Mohamed Adroub Ohajis called "Beja Congress - Past and Present." Officers demanded that pages be torn out of the book. Some 288 copies of the book were seized. Mr Ohajis is a retired teacher, writer on Beja history. A project he was working on at the time was a dictionary of the Beja language.

The Sudan Organisation Against Torture promoted this case as an example of intimidation and harassment, and invited appeals to government officials to "end restrictions on freedom of expression, allow full and open reporting of, and comment upon the current state of affairs in Sudan."

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article11333
http://www.soatsudan.org/
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