Two independent Sudanese newspapers, al-Maidan and Ajras al-Hurriya, are halting publication in protest at government censorship. Whilst Ajras has had its distribution blocked since Wednesday, al-Maidan has been barred from circulation three times already this month. The government has stepped up censorship in the wake of anti-government protests which started in January of this year.
A supporter of Bahrain’s anti-government movement was found dead in police custody on 9 April. Whilst the opposition party described the death of Rashid Zakaria Hassan, 40, as “mysterious”, government officials claim that he died of complications from sickle-cell anaemia. Hassan was initially detained on 2 April on charges of inciting hatred and promoting sectarianism.
Soldiers in black ski masks took control of the Salmaniya Medical Complex on 11 April as the civil unrest in Bahrain continues. At least a dozen doctors and medical support officers have been arrested in the last month and many more are missing. The Bahraini health minister has accused health care workers of conspiring against the state. However, doctors counter that hospitals such as Salmaniya have been converted into an apparatus of state violence and intimidation.
Members of CNN’s news team were arrested by the government’s security forces as they were visiting the house of Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
Twenty men in black ski masks are reported to have surrounded the news team and confiscated their recording equipment. Government officials have alleged that the team was detained at a checkpoint for not having the proper identification paers. CNN denies the claim and insists its reporters were subject to intimidation and censorship.