Sudan confiscates pro-opposition paper
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September 5, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan on Sunday blocked the publication
of a paper affiliated with a major opposition party, in the latest
assault against freedom of press by the country’s security
authorities.
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(Photo taken from www.middle-east-online.com)
Al-Maydan, the bi-weekly mouthpiece of the Sudanese Communist Party
(SCP), on Monday circulated a release saying that copies of its
Sunday’s edition were confiscated by agents of the country’s National
Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
The paper said that no reason or justification was given for the
confiscation, which occurred after the paper was printed.
Al-Maydan noted that this was the sixth time in the last four months
that its copies had been confiscated, crying foul over the heavy
financial losses it incurred as a result.
The paper went on to censure the National Council of Press and
Publication, the official regulator of print-media, and the
government-controlled Union of Sudanese journalists for their failure
to respond to such violations by the security apparatus.
“As much as we condemn the recurring behavior of the NISS towards our
paper and others, we also condemn the negative attitude of the press
council and union of journalists towards what is happening and we
consider it as part of a wider conspiracy targeting newspapers and
journalists in order to further restrict journalistic work,” the
paper’s release said.
Sudan’s constitution guarantees freedom of press but newspapers,
especially privately owned and pro-opposition ones, are frequently
subjected to a variety of measures to prevent them from reporting on
issues deemed sensitive by the authorities.
Those measures include direct pre-publication censorship,
confiscation, legal proceedings and denial of state adverts.
Confiscation, in particular, inflicts severe financial damages on the
papers which are already hard-pressed due to low circulation revenues.
Over the last couple of month, Sudan’s NISS confiscated copies of two
privately owned dailies, Al-Ahdath and Al-Jaridah, after they were
printed and without explanation.
In the same vein, a Sudanese lobby group has denounced the
confiscation of papers as a constitutional abomination.
The Network of Sudanese Journalists said on Monday that the
confiscation of Al-Maydan and Al-Jaridah violated Sudan’s interim
constitution and international accords ratified by the country.
The group said that NISS’s continuing confiscation of papers was a
dangerous indication of curtailing the freedom of expression and of
restricting and weakening the press.
Reporters Without Borders, an international organization, in June
slammed "the disgraceful way the [Sudanese] authorities are harassing
and prosecuting journalists in Khartoum and the north of the country
in an attempt to silence them and stop embarrassing revelations about
human rights violation by the security forces"
Another press-freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ), said that Sudanese authorities continue to “aggressively”
target individual journalists and publications through "contrived
legal proceedings, politicized criminal charges, and confiscations".
Results published as part of UNESCO 2011 World Press Freedom Day,
Sudan ranks as 40 out of 48 in Sub-Saharan Africa for press freedom.
Amnesty International described Sudan as a place where freedom of
speech is being "openly violated"
(ST)
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