Sudan confiscates copies of pro-opposition daily

April 6, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Copies of a Sudanese newspaper affiliated with the opposition were confiscated on Wednesday by the country’s security forces, Reuters reported, citing the paper’s editor.

Sudan has repeatedly preempted coverage of newspapers through the use of confiscation and a pre-publication censorship system, whereby security agents visit offices of newspapers at night to screen draft copies and expunge contents deemed detrimental to the government’s reputation.

Fayiz Al-Silayik, deputy editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Ajrass al-Hurriya, which is linked to the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in south Sudan, told Reuters that security agents confiscated copies of his paper after it went to the printing press on Wednesday.

Ajrass al-Hurriyah, one of the papers most targeted by the authorities, had its copies confiscated last January for reporting on anti-government protests staged by youth groups attempting to emulate their counterparts in neighboring Egypt and Libya.

According to Al-Silayik, this time’s seizure may have been prompted by the paper’s coverage of Tuesday’s airstrike in eastern Sudan by foreign planes, which killed two people whose identity is yet to be uncovered, as well as long-delayed elections in the country’s flashpoint state of South Kordofan.

The Sudanese government uses a wide array of methods, including direct censorship and deprivation of adverts from state institutions, to inflict financial damage on newspapers and restrict their coverage despite guarantees of press freedom in the country’s interim constitution.

Sudan is ranked as 172 out of 178 in the world press freedom index issued by the New York-based Reporters Without Borders.

(ST)