Sudanese newspaper goes on strike to protest security crackdown

May 14, 2016 ( KHARTOUM) The Sudanese independent daily of Al-Jareeda decided Friday to go on strike for the second consecutive day protesting a security campaign confiscating copies of the newspaper four times during five days.

The security seizure of the prints has inflicted a financial loss of 90 thousand pounds on the newspaper.

In a press release issued on Saturday, the newspaper administration said that they received no query from the Press Council and the Sudanese Journalists Union; however, it will deliver the complaints to the two bodies which are in charge of taking care of the press issues in the country.

“The authorities did not give any reason for the confiscation”, the statement confirmed.

Declaring its plans to resume publishing as of Monday, the newspaper describes its editorial policies as fully respectful to the state’s institution, urging the harmed party to resort to the law and leave the press institutions independent and well respected.

The statement has affirmed that the state-run Agmar Company, which is responsible for distributing advertisements, has no right to deprive the paper of advertisers.

The Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman has said earlier that “the newspapers have the right to write what they want while the government has the right to give advertisements to what it wants”

The newspaper further mentioned that two of its journalists, Salah Ahmed Abdalla and Hayder Ahmed, were ordered to stop writing by the National Press Council.

The National Security Service retroactively punishes newspapers accused of crossing the red lines by confiscating copies after they were printed to ensure severe financial losses.

(ST)