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afrol News, 14 April - Sudanese government has hanged nine men in the capital Khartoum yesterday who were convicted of beheading a newspaper editor Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed in 2006.

The execution took place at Kober Prison in Khartoum. The court had initially sentenced them to death by firing squad, but their lawyers had appealed the sentence.

The editor of the Al-Wifaq daily was kidnapped by armed men from his home and his decapitated body was found the following morning lying on the street in southern Khartoum on 6 September 2006.

Local report said the editor who was an Islamist, had angered others by reprinting an article that questioned the roots of the Prophet Mohammed and also criticising rebel groups in Sudan before his disappearance.

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

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. He was put on trial for blasphemy but the charges were later dropped.

Mr Taha had been the target of an assassination attempt five years previously after writing an article which criticised the ruling National Congress Party.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has condemned the hanging of nine, saying they were arbitrarily arrested, tortured and then subjected to an unfair trial.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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