Bloomberg correspondent flees Sudan amid threats to safety
July 17, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – A Bloomberg correspondent working in Sudan has reportedly fled the country in fear of his life after being threatened and assaulted by authorities while covering an anti-government protest, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.
Michael Gunn, 35, a Scottish national, told CPJ he is accredited by the Sudanese government and had been covering a wide range of issues, including economic and political news, since his arrival in the country last November.
Gunn, who left Sudan on 2 July, told CPJ threats were made against him after he was detained arbitrarily by authorities, following a 29 June rally in which thousands of protesters called for president Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s resignation.
The protest was organised by the youth branch of the National Umma Party (NUP) and was one of the largest anti-government rallies to take place in recent years.
Gunn told CPJ that he was seized by security agents in plainclothes while he was covering the rally in Omdurman. He said he was hit several times, his bag and pockets searched, and his shirt pulled over his head before being thrown into the back of a truck with several Sudanese citizens.
Gunn said the assailants took him to a building where a man in plainclothes told him in English that if it were up to him, the journalist would be killed, but that they had to wait for further instructions from security personnel.
The journalist said that he was then blindfolded and questioned for three hours about what he was doing in Sudan, during which time he was slapped by his interrogators and ordered to unlock his smartphone. Following the interrogation, he was put back in a truck and released on a nearby street.
“Sudanese authorities assaulted and threatened an international journalist, with apparent impunity and with the effect of preventing the reporter from carrying out his duties”, CPJ Middle East and North Africa coordinator Sherif Mansour said. “Michael Gunn should be allowed to work freely in Sudan without fear of harassment”.
Sudanese authorities have yet to respond to attempts by CPJ to contact them over the matter.
However, Rabie Abdelati, a senior official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), told Reuters the incident was regrettable and that the behaviour of the security agents in question was unacceptable.
Sudanese authorities have a track record of harassing journalists in the past. In June, authorities detained Sudanese reporter Khalid Ahmed for three days and interrogated him on allegations of harming the morale of the armed forces.
His detention was reportedly linked to an article published in Al-Sudani about a visit in early June by a top military official to the conflict-affected South Kordofan state.
The report, which is no longer available, but was reproduced on an online forum said rebels had attacked the convoy of the army’s chief-of-staff, resulting in clashes which left several soldiers injured and a military aircraft destroyed.
Earlier this year, authorities banned two prominent Arabic-language dailies, Al-Meghar al-Syasy and Al-Intibaha, as well as Communist newspaper al-Midan for daring to publish reports critical of the government.
Sudan was ranked the 170th worst offender out of the 179 countries included in the latest press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) in January.
Security agents routinely carry out pre-publication censorship, arbitrary arrests of journalists and newspaper seizures.
(ST)