Posts Tagged ‘Sudan’
June 27th, 2012
Sudanese security forces have brutally cracked down on protests against government austerity measures, arresting scores of people, including
several journalists. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used as police to break up the protests, which have been ongoing since 16 June. Both local and international journalists have been arrested during their coverage of the protests, including Simon Martelli from Agence France Presse and Egyptian journalist
Salma al-Wardany, from Bloomberg. Citizen journalist Nagla Sid Ahmed was summoned for questioning by security services on several consecutive days to prevent her from attending and covering the protests.
February 21st, 2012
The entire print-run of two
Sudanese newspapers were
seized by The National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) yesterday. Al-Tayar and Al-Youm Al-Tali newspapers Monday (20 February) editions were confiscated after they published statements made by Hassan al-Turabi the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP). Turabi alleged that his office had been wiretapped by security services, and showed journalists some of the listening devices he found. Security agents arrived after midnight at the newspaper’s Khartoum offices and seized the Monday edition. Twenty newspaper reporters protested the confiscation in front of the National Press Council, which licenses newspapers.
January 31st, 2012
The publisher of an independent
Sudanese newspaper has
withheld an edition of the paper to protest censorship. National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)
raided the offices of independent newspaper Al-Jaridah on Sunday, seizing all copies of the first edition of the paper since it was forced to close in 2011. Before the closure, the government had warned the publisher against columns by journalists who previously worked with Ahjras Al Hurriya, another independent newspaper that was banned. As a result of the confiscation, the newspaper’s publisher withheld the Monday edition of the paper in protest against the censorship.
December 12th, 2011
A
Sudanese editor has received a
death threat following the publication of an article critical of the country’s president, Salva Kiir.
Dengdit Ayok, vice-editor of the English-speaking newspaper The Destiny, was arrested and detained for two weeks for publishing a news story on the marriage of the president’s daughter to an Ethiopian. The article was deemed unethical by Sudanese authorities, who also said the newspaper continued publishing “isolated topics that should not be published for the public”.
October 19th, 2011
A
parliamentary seminar to discuss proposed changes to
Sudan‘s press law was subject to a heated debate about pre-publication censorship on Monday. During the seminar, a leading member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Fathi Shilah, described press censorship as an act of backwardness regardless of the authority that implements it. The current press law in the country,
passed in 2009, has been heavily criticised by journalists who claim the law only appears to create a free press. Newspapers are
confiscated and censored by security authorities aiming to prevent publication and large financial penalties can be handed to journalists.
September 19th, 2011
The Sudanese security authorities
have instructed newspapers to avoid reporting the activities of rebel groups in the country. Local reports say the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) contacted chief editors of national newspapers and ordered them not to publish any statements by Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim or leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which is fighting the government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
September 14th, 2011
According to a source on the ground in
Sudan, National Scurity forces prevented the distribution of Al-Maydan, the newspaper belonging to the Sudanese Communist party on 13 September. Yesterday was the fifth confiscation of the tri-weekly newspaper since last week. Other newspapers have also
been confiscated on multiple occasions in the past month.
September 12th, 2011
Al-Sahafa, a
Sudanese independent newspaper,
was confiscated by security forces on Wednesday, and the Thursday edition was also held from distribution, according to editor Annur Ahmed Annur.
Earlier this week, copies of Al-Maydan, the newspaper of Sudan’s communist party, were also confiscated.
