HC Deb 02 July 1951 vol 489 c179W
58. Mr. Parker

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why sentences of imprisonment or fines of £E750 have been imposed on 15 members of the Sudan Peace Committee and Sudan Youth Congress.

Mr. Ernest Davies

A Sudan Government Local Routine Order makes any association in the Sudan which advocates or promotes or practices the theories or principles of international Communism or of the Cominform an unlawful association. All the 15 persons concerned are members of the Sudan Peace Committee and the Sudan Youth Congress. On 9th May, 1951, a Khartoum court found that both these organisations were illegal. As this was a first offence, the accused were offered the penalty of a fine as an alternative to imprisonment and all fines, totalling £750 Egyptian, were paid.