Sudanese journalists to discuss press freedoms with security services
May 29, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The pro-government Sudan Journalists Union (SJU) said it will hold a panel discussion on Sunday with the participation of several law, security and media specialists.
Last Monday, NISS seized copies of 10 newspapers from the printing press and suspended 4 of them indefinitely without giving reasons.
Journalists suggested the move was likely a reaction to news published by those newspapers on incidents of sexual harassment and child rape taking place inside school buses.
An official source within the SJU told the state news agency SUNA that the panel discussion aims to study and analyse the current state of the media, saying it comes within the framework of the dialogue which the SJU hopes would have positive impact on the practice of the profession.
The SJU has invited all journalists, correspondents, media professionals and those interested in the social media to attend the panel discussion which would be held under the title “the press and the community”.
The department of information at the NISS and the leadership of the SJU had discussed on Thursday the importance of the role played by the press and how to reconcile between freedom and responsibility in order for the press to carry out its professional duty.
According to a press release from the NISS, the SJU called for upholding values of freedom and professionalism and resorting to the law for resolving media disputes, saying they also demanded immediate return of the 4 newspapers suspended on Monday.
The NISS’s information department, for its part, underscored its keenness to strengthen values of liberty and transparency, stressing it would not tolerate any publishing of news which could negatively affect values, morals and customs of the society.
It also emphasized that all measures taken against the newspapers have been applied in accordance with the law.
NISS used to summon journalists and seize copies of newspapers for publishing news and reports on political, security and military issues, however, they recently they tightened the noose on social issues as well.
Last March, the societal police also interrogated several journalists for publishing stories and statistics pertaining to the HIV/AIDS and the sex workers in Khartoum.
Earlier this year, NISS interrogated journalists, Hanan Issa, of Al-Mustaqilla newspaper and Mohamed Saeed, of Al-Taghyeer newspaper for publishing stories on social phenomena such as marriage and illegal drugs.
NISS also summoned the journalist Asma Michael Istanbol of Al-Tayyar newspaper last December for publishing a press report on prostitution in Khartoum.
Sudan’s constitution guarantees freedom of expression but laws subordinate to the constitution such as the National Security Forces Act of 2010 contains articles that can be potentially used to curtail press freedom and instigate legal proceedings against newspapers and individual journalists.
Sudanese journalists work under tight daily censorship controls exercised by the NISS.
Journalists say that NISS uses seizures of print runs of newspapers, not only to censor the media but also to weaken them economically.
(ST)