A Sudanese journalist claimed Friday a hit-and-run accident in which he was slightly hurt was a deliberate attempt on his life.
Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, editor of the daily Al-Wifaq, told AFP from hospital where he was under observation that he was convinced he had been targeted by a pick-up truck which knocked him down in a south Khartoum street late Thursday.
He escaped with bruises after being hit as he was leaving the offices of the National Press Council after being told his newspaper was being suspended for five days for defaming Hassan al-Turabi, political opponent of President Omar al-Beshir.
Ahmed is an Islamic militant who took Beshir's side in his feud this year with Turabi.
Information Minister Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani said at a news conference that the government rejects "political violence" and has given a police guard to Ahmed to "protect him against any other attack on his life."
Atabani said that according to witnesses, a car had been waiting in an unlit area and "moved towards Ahmed after he had walked out of the National Press Council, knocked him down and drove away."
"A search has been launched to seize the culprits."
Atabani said Ahmed told the Press Council that Al-Wifaq's article had been in reaction to a leaflet from Turabi's Popular National Congress party, which the editor said defamed him.
The Press Council considered this explanation "unconvincing," Atabani added - KHARTOUM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
