Sudanese security confiscates another newspaper over ISIS-related story

June 30, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on Tuesday seized print runs of al-Siyasi newspaper from the printing house without giving reasons.

However, the Editorial Director of al-Siyasi, Hussein Hassan, said that the Editor-in-
Chief of the newspaper, Mustafa Abu Al-Aza’m, discussed in his daily column on Monday the issue of the college students who ran off to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

According to local press reports, twelve Sudanese college students have secretly flown on Friday night to Turkey to join ISIS.

The students are enrolled in the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) owned by the Khartoum state health minister Mamoon Humaida.

NISS on Monday seized copies of al-Jareeda and al-Tayar newspapers for publishing stories which stated that the daughter of the foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadig was among the students who joined ISIS.

NISS recently intensified its crackdown on press in the country accusing them of crossing the red lines through publishing reports which adversely impact the national security.

On 25 May, it seized copies of 10 newspapers from the printing press without giving reasons. In a similar move last February, it also seized print runs of fourteen newspapers.

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 copies of newspapers, not only to censor the media but also to weaken them economically.

(ST)