Alfred Taban
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Alfred Taban (born 1957, Kajokeji) is a Sudanese broadcast journalist. He is currently working as the BBC's correspondent in Khartoum. He is the founder of the Khartoum Monitor, the only independent English-language newspaper in the Sudanese capital.
Having trained as a laboratory technician, Taban embarked on a career in journalism, a vocation that in Sudan is subject to constant government intimidation. He was detained by the authorities for one week in April 2001 while covering a news conference by church leaders in Khartoum, protesting against the cancellation of a service and the arrest of up to one hundred Christians. On another occasion, the Sudanese police forced Taban to stand for twelve hours chanting "I am a liar, I am a liar".
In July 2005, Speaker of the British House of Commons Michael Martin presented the Speaker Abbot award to Alfred Taban, in recognition of his work exposing the slaughter in Darfur. This award is awarded tto the journalist who has made the greatest contribution internationally to the "protection, promotion and perpetuation of parliamentary democracy".
In June 2006, Taban was one of three recipients to be presented with the National Endowment for Democracy award by US President George W. Bush. Bush was reportedly "amazed" when Taban informed him that the eighteen-month peace deal between the Khartoum government and Southern Sudanese insurgents was not working.
On 30 October 2006 he was summoned and stated that he was liable for the content of a newspaper article dated 14 September 2006 which claimed that foreign minister, state minister for foreign affairs and the director of information and public relations, Lam Akol, are mouthpieces and perpetrators of genocide as well as Islamic extremists etc. It was argued that the article was general criticism and personal opinion of its author. The writer of the article read the list particularly given that Darfur conflict is a public problem that had been covered by newspapers and all media agencies. The committee made, concerning this article, the following decision: The article contained inappropriate phrases and was published by a political newspaper read by broad sectors of society, and it also contained clear violations of legal determinants as well as exceeding the proper bounds of public criticism given that the present time requires selectivity with respect to topics and phrases. In addition to the published reprimand a penalty was imposed.[1]
Alfred Taban is married with five children.
