Sudan confiscates edition of daily newspaper

January 29, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security authorities on Sunday blocked the publication of a privately owned newspaper without giving any reason, in the latest assault against freedom of press in the country.

Since the start of this year, Sudan has closed down two daily newspapers, Ra’y al-Sha’b, which toes the line of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan al-Turabi, and Alwan, which is privately owned but is suspected by the authorities of being sympathetic with PCP.

The country’s constitution guarantees freedom of press but a number of laws subordinate to the constitution, such as the National Security Act, are perpetually used to curtail freedom of expression and subject individual journalists to legal proceedings on the grounds of their reporting.

The editor-in-chief of Al-Jaridah, Osman Shinger, told Reuters that security agents visited the paper’s offices after midnight on Sunday and confiscated the entire edition.

The confiscated edition was meant to be Al-Jaridah’s first after it was suspended for four months as of September last year at the behest of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). However, the paper won approval from the National Press Council to resume publication.

“We will protest against this. They didn’t give us any reason,” the editor said.

Sudan has again been ranked among the world’s 10 worst countries with regards to media freedom in the 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.

(ST)