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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.
Security officials arrested an Islamist opposition figure in his home in Khartoum on Monday. Hassan al-Turabi was taken into custody a day after he called for a “popular revolution” if the price increases on basic goods were not reversed. In an interview with AFP al-Turabi had said that similar developments to Tunisia could unfold in Sudan. He has been imprisoned and released several times since 2000 when he left Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s ruling party.
A journalist working for a newspaper owned by the Islamist opposition politician, Hassan al-Turabi, has been charged with terrorism, espionage and destabilizing the constitutional system following his arrest on 15 May.
Al-Turabi and a further three journalists have yet to be charged with any specific crime by the authorities.