Sudan confiscates independent paper

Sept 9, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese authorities confiscated all copies of the independent newspaper Al Sudani on Saturday, the latest move in a resurgence of censorship since the beheading of a journalist earlier in the week.

The journalist, Mohamed Taha, editor of the newspaper Al Wifaq, was seized from his home on Tuesday, and his decapitated body was dumped in a street on Wednesday.

Since then, censors have moved into newspapers’ offices to restrict the work of journalists, ending months of press freedom in Sudan.

One state security official said the measures were not a return to censorship but intended to prevent the publication of articles that would compromise the investigation into Mr. Taha’s death.

“The deceased was a journalist,” he said. “His colleagues will write emotional things that could affect the investigation.”

Osman Merghani, a columnist at Al Sudani, said the authorities had confiscated all the copies of the paper from the printing press, waiting until they had been printed.

“They did not tell us which article they did not like, they just said all the articles are inappropriate,” Mr. Merghani said.

After the signing of a north-south peace deal in January 2005, a new Constitution was drawn up enshrining press freedom. The authorities had largely respected that until Mr. Taha’s death.

“The government wants to go back to the previous stage before signing the peace deal,” Mr. Merghani said.

Employees of the opposition newspaper Al Rai al-Shaab paper said it had been heavily censored and an entire page removed.

The moves have affected mostly independent Arabic-language newspapers. Staff members at the English-language newspaper The Citizen said they had been told to remove certain articles but had refused.

Newspapers make little money in Sudan, and confiscating a paper after it has been printed is a financial blow to the owners.

(Reuters)