Opposition party slams arrest of Sudanese journalist

September 13, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) denounced the temporary detention of a female journalist by the security service while she was covering a protest over the trial of several people accused of killing the former director of the Sudan Cotton Company.

The editor in chief of Akhbar Alwatan, the SCoP official organ, Hanadi al-Sidiq was slapped and violently arrested on Tuesday evening in the suburb of Giraif Garab when she refused to follow security agents to their premises in Khartoum.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the opposition party condemned the arrest of the journalist stressing that it comes within the framework of a campaign targeting journalists and human rights in the country.

It said that the security apparatus whose members have immunity exercise violence without any accountability before the law. The statement further pointed that her arrest was not carried out under any judicial order.

Also, an independent journalist group, Jahr, condemned the assault and detention of the journalist, stressing on the right of the press cover events and called on the Sudanese authorities to respect and guarantee the press freedom.

(ST)