Sudan security continues to confiscate daily newspapers

December 3, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security apparatus continues for the sixth day to carry out the collective confiscation against four newspapers, as the Popular Congress Party has urged the Prime Minister to stop what he called harmful “tampering”

Since the beginning of last week, the security and intelligence apparatus has confiscated on daily basis the print runs of Al-Yayyar, Al-Jarida, Akhir-lahza and Al-Watan newspapers without revealing the reasons behind this punitive measure.

The editors-in-chief of the four newspapers on Sunday went to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Parliament, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) headquarters, the Union and the Press and Publications Council, a government body, where they handed over protest memorandum for the unjustified seizures of newspapers.

The move came after a meeting of editors and publishers on Saturday to discuss proposals for a newspapers strike and protests against the security services.

Also, in an unprecedented move, a legislator on Sunday filed a request to summon the NISS director to appear before a committee of parliament to clarify the reasons for the continued confiscation of newspapers.

For his part, the Popular Congress Party (PCP) said that “the confiscation of newspapers for six consecutive days is a clear violation of freedoms in the country,” and called on the Prime Minister of the National Reconciliation Government to shoulder his historic responsibilities and stop the confiscation of the newspapers.

The PCP which participates in the post-national dialogue government said it found that “the security apparatus size the printed edition of newspapers in order to deplete its resources and punish them for their positions in the past period over some important files that they dealt with high professionalism.”

In February 20145, security services confiscated the entire print runs of 14 newspapers.

(ST)