Sudan expels Arab journalist for covering protests
December 26, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The London-based Alaraby TV Wednesday said that the Sudanese authorities prevented its team from covering demonstrations in Sudanese cities and ordered its correspondent to leave the country within 24 hours.
On Tuesday several reporters mentioned brutality by security agents while covering the recent demonstrations that took place in Khartoum to protest the difficult living conditions saying they confiscated their mobile telephone and deleted the pictures also some were arrested and other beaten violently.
In a clip posted on the social media, Adnan Jan said he arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday morning on the same day and started the coverage of the protests but after his first reportage he was summoned by the security service.
“They ordered me to leave the country immediately and asked me to sign a commitment that I would never exercise my profession as a journalist from Khartoum,” he said.
“We call on the Sudanese authorities to lift the ban on Alaraby TV (local) team in Khartoum,” he further said.
In a separate statement, the pan-Arab TV media said the Sudanese satellite services company, which deals with Alaraby TV was also ordered to not air any reporting from the local team of the channel in relation to covering the demonstrations and protests.
The Alaraby TV which is established by former journalists of Al-Jazeera TV to promote change issues and sees itself as a “backer of Arab popular revolutions demanding freedom, justice and dignity,” according to its director Abbas Nassir.
Al-Jazeera TV correspondent in Khartoum Ahmed al-Rahaid and his team were also harassed by the security service during their coverage of the protests.
Also, a Sudanese journalist of Al-Sudani newspaper, Yasir Abdalla was brutally beaten by armed men in plain clothes while he was outside the newspaper building.
The journalist who was monitoring the demonstrators was taken to a vehicle without registration plates and beat and insulted him before he was released.
A number of journalists including Azmi Abdel Razek, Tariq Mohamed Osman, Hajo al-Aqra, Mohamed Daoud narrated on the social media platforms that they had taken from the protests by the security forces and subjected to beatings and abuse by the security agents.
In January 2018, the Sudanese security service arrested 15 journalists while they were covering protests against the rising living prices.
(ST)