COMMUNISTS from six countries issued a call at the weekend for a campaign of solidarity with the Sudanese Communist Party and the staff of its banned newspaper Al-Midan.

Party representative Rashid Alsheikh told a meeting in London of parties from Britain, Iran, Greece, Cyprus and Bangladesh that all copies of the paper had been confiscated by the Sudanese regime’s security forces from the beginning of January.

“The editor and senior journalists at Al-Midan have been locked up and face serious charges including ‘endangering national security’,” Mr Alsheikh revealed. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths has sent a letter of protest to the Sudanese ambassador condemning the regime’s repressive policies and demanding that the paper’s staff are released and all charges agai nst them dropped.

The six parties at the meeting pledged to redouble their efforts to win support in Britain and internationally for Al-Midan and its imprisoned journalists.