Press Censorship in Sudan

Reporters Without Borders called on the Sudanese government today to lift its almost three-month censorship of the privately-owned press in Khartoum which has intensified in recent days with the seizure of six daily newspapers.

These are the most serious press freedom violations since the 2005 peace agreement that was supposed to end emergency laws, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. Secret police surveillance of newspaper staff is outrageous and illegal and the national unity government must put a stop to it. The media, one of the better aspects of modern Sudan, is being punished without reason and in violation of the national constitution.

The National Security Service (NSS) domestic intelligence agency phoned the editors of 10 daily papers on 13 April and ordered them to henceforth submit all their content for prior approval under the censorship illegally reestablished on 6 February. But the papers all refused to comply and printed their editions in the normal way. The police then went to the printers and seized copies of Ajras al-Huriyya, Rai al-Shaab and Al-Ayyam on 15 April.

The editions of Al-Sudani, al-Ahdath, Ajras al-Huriyya, Rai al-Shaab and the English-language daily The Citizen were seized the next day after several tens of thousands of copies had been printed. The four Arab-language dailies had been warned not to report the press conference held the day before by the editors of Ajras al-Huriyya criticising the new censorship, a local journalist told Reporters Without Borders.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed an agreement by Sudanese authorities to end censorship after journalist union leaders brought together a group of newspaper editors in a concerted effort to strengthen ethical journalism and media independence in the country.

The Sudanese Journalists' Union (SJU) held a meeting on Wednesday with 27 newspapers editors and officers from the security services responsible for media and agreed to end all censorship and stop the practice of sending newspaper stories to the censor before publication.

The newspapers also agreed to adhere to the media code of conduct and to further discussions on how to protect press freedom and responsible journalism.

Update: Al-Wan

22nd May 2008

Sudanese security forces have closed a newspaper indefinitely for publishing sensitive military information that might be linked to a rebel attack on Khartoum.

The Arabic-language Al-Wan paper has Islamist links.

The paper's managing editor, al-Tayyib Farraj, told Reuters a force from state security came to the paper on Wednesday evening: They had a decree to close the paper and confiscate all its possessions.

He did not know which article had caused problems but believed the closure could be related to an article on a missing fighter jet which had been published after the attack.

Farraj complained that the closure was unfair because censors had read the paper before it was published. Strict censorship laws were reintroduced several months ago: For months we have daily censorship and our paper doesn't go to the printing press without them reading it first. Any objections should have been voiced then.

Sudan has been urged to stop censoring a daily newspaper after employees at al-Midan went on strike and the newspaper failed to appear on February 10.

According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information says that authorities require that the newspapers send a copy of each edition to the Media section of intelligence for pre-publishing approval with an intelligence office for each newspaper. The list of forbidden topics described as sensitive includes Darfur, Abyei, the Water Dams projects in northern Sudan and any criticism of the president, the armed forces or intelligence.

The latest dispute arose after the observer expunged six internal pages and removed some topics entirely from the prepared proofs, meaning that they were rendered meaningless and useless.

In a statement, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the pre- and post-publishing censorship on the Sudanese press, considering it as a blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression, opinion and media provided by the interim constitution. Therefore ANHRI demands the Sudanese government end all forms of unlawful censorship against journalists.

The Sudanese authorities banned a daily newspaper for two days for their coverage of press conference held by the Secretary General of the Sudan people’s Liberation Movement and articles on the press freedom.

Ajras Al-Hurriya, a pro-SPLM daily newspaper had been banned by the security service on Thursday and Friday for the coverage of a press conference held by Pagan Amum the SPLM secretary general and some editorials written by the editor in chief and other journalists on the draft of new press law.

In a press release the daily denounced the abusive censorship saying other newspapers were allowed to publish the same coverage of Pagan statements. It also added that security officials remove official’s news, interviews and even the commercial advertising.

The international rights group Human Rights Watch has urged the Sudanese legislators to make major changes to a draft press law before the national assembly, saying current version retains many repressive provisions.

Human Rights Watch said these revisions are needed to bring Sudan's laws into line with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to create an environment for free and fair elections, now slated for February 2010.

Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch said the revision of the draft press act is a critical step in the law reform process: The government's pre-print censorship, harassment, and arrests of journalists, editors, and human rights activists are stifling free speech as Sudan faces crucial elections.

Local reports said the measures which maintain the press under government control include strict media registration rules, vague reporting prohibitions, a National Press Council controlled by the president with broad regulatory powers, and heavy fines and criminal sanctions for media outlets and journalists.

Human Rights Watch has also expressed concerns over the draft law which contains powers for security services to detain individuals for up to one month without judicial review. This is in contravention of international standards that require individuals arrested to be promptly brought before a judge, the international rights organisation said.

More than 50 Sudanese journalists protested outside the National Assembly in Omdurman on Tuesday against a draft law of press largely criticized for repressive articles it includes.

The new press bill put the media and the media houses under the control of the Sudanese presidency which appoint 8 of the 21 members of the Press Council. No media house will be established or journalist authorized to exercise this activity without a licence from the council.

Also the disputed bill allows the council to close newspapers and authorizes the judge to impose 50,000 new Sudanese pound fines for infractions.

Sudanese Journalists Network, which includes hundreds of independent journalists said that it organized the protest against the new draft press law because it limits the freedom of the press and impose restrictions on journalists and frightens them by an arsenal of sanctions.

The demonstration comes as the Sudanese parliament begun today to discuss the contested draft of the press law. Some 150 legislators from the SPLM and opposition National Democratic Alliance boycotted the discussion to mark their position from this bill restrictive of press freedom.

Sudanese media have suffered multiple blows in recent months as parliament considers a harshly repressive press bill and authorities impose an exceptional level of censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The press bill, introduced in the Sudanese National Assembly in April, falls far short of international standards for free expression, according to CPJ's analysis.

The bill grants the National Council for the Press and Publications unprecedented authority to grant and revoke publication licenses; impose strict disciplinary measures against journalists; conduct examination of journalists to determine their suitability for the profession; and confiscate printing equipment. Eight of the council's 21 members would be appointed by the president, according to the bill. The president's office would have sole oversight of the National Council for the Press and Publications.

According to the bill, newspapers would have to renew licenses annually and journalists must be registered with the council in order to work. Journalists can be fined up to 50,000 new Sudanese pounds (US$21,000) for violating any provision of the bill, according to Article 37. Article 26 stipulates that an editor-in-chief bears primary legal responsibility for all matters appearing in a newspaper, but it assigns legal responsibility to writers, editors, publishers, printers, and distributors as well.

In another alarming development, local journalists told CPJ that security agents are imposing censorship at an ever-increasing rate. The 1999 National Security Forces Law grants security forces significant powers over the media.

Around 9 p.m. every day, security officers visit newspapers to determine what they can print and what will be censored, journalists told CPJ. It is totally arbitrary, Murtadha al-Ghali, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Ajras al-Huriya, told CPJ. [The officer] removes certain articles from our newspaper and the next day other newspapers publish similar articles.

Update: Fine Dropped

Based on article from sudantribune.com

Sudanese parliament agreed to remove the heavy fine imposed on the journalists in a draft law discussed currently by the legislators, the head of Sudanese journalists syndicate said.

Mahi Eddin Titawi, said yesterday they had agreed with a National Assembly subcommittee reviewing the contested press draft law to drop the fine of 50,000 Sudanese pound (21,500 US dollars) that journalists could face for unspecified offences.

Titawi further said the journalists would not have to be registered at the government controlled press council but at the journalists syndicate.

Update: Press Law Passed

9th June 2009. Based on article from reuters.com

Sudan Monday passed an amended version of a media bill that sparked protests in Khartoum last month, but the new version failed to allay the fears of many Sudanese journalists.

A peace accord, which ended more than 20 years of fighting between the north and south, also promised Sudan's first free elections in 24 years. Analysts and Sudanese opposition politicians have said a new press law is crucial for the February ballot.

Journalists said Monday they were pleased legislators had removed a section from earlier drafts that would have allowed a powerful press council to fine journalists or newspapers up to 50,000 Sudanese Pounds ($21,000). In the final version, law courts decide penalties and can choose how long to suspend newspapers.

But the new press bill leaves room for state interference on the grounds of national security or public order and it remains unclear if censorship will be reduced.

As Sudan prepares for the first general elections in decades, President Omar al-Beshir lifts censorship on the press.

As of today, censorship is over and journalists have complete freedom, said a presidential decree carried by the official SUNA news agency.

Head of the country's Press Council, Ali Shimo, said the pre-censorship system was called off after editors, journalists' associations and censors signed an ethics code for practicing journalism.

Up to now, a group of government-led sensors screened newspapers every night before hitting the stands to purge them of sensitive articles despite a law guaranteeing freedom of the press .

Under the law, passed in parliament in June, the press were granted freedom but banned from provoking religious or ethnic or racial sedition or calling for war or violence, while respecting and protecting public ethics, religious values and those found guilty of violating the press law had to pay a fixed penalty set by the courts. But in practice, the law was impractical and the censors continued their job.

The new press law and lifting of censorship will only be applied to the written press and not to television.

Sudanese security officers stormed two newspapers tearing up articles ready for printing, employees said.

Authorities went to the offices of the Ajras al-Hurriya, which is linked to the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the independent daily Al-Sahafa, and confiscated articles.

Security officers also went to the offices of the Al-Sahafa daily and demanded to see editorial material and opinion columns, an employee said.

The move comes just days after authorities shut down the Rai al-Shaab newspaper of Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, and detained four employees.

A Sudanese newspaper said it would suspend publication for one week in protest at stringent censorship by authorities, as five other papers were censored in Africa's largest country, journalists said.

Direct pre-publication censorship was reintroduced for two daily papers last month and four others also complained they were visited by Sudanese security forces who removed many pages of content.

We will suspend our newspaper for a week in protest at the pre-(publication) censorship, said Faiz Al-Silaik, acting editor in chief of the Ajras Al-Huriya paper, aligned to the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

Ajras Al-Huriya was unable to go to press on Sunday for the third day in a row and the opposition Al-Meydan, aligned to the Communist Party, was not allowed to print.

They went to the printing press...and they told the press not to print the paper, said managing editor Mohamed el-Fatih from Al-Meydan. The main news they were unhappy about seemed to be the doctors' strike.

Journalists from six independent or opposition papers told Reuters they were visited and directly censored by the security forces late on Saturday night.

Other papers said they were called and told not to write about specific news including the strike by doctors over pay and working conditions and the International Criminal Court, unless it was from a government source.

Update: Police newspaper censorship relaxed

12th June 2010. Based on article from sudantribune.com

The Sudanese General Union of Sudanese Journalists moderated a dialogue between the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and two independent newspapers subject to pre-publication censorship and managed to lift it as a result, state media reported today.

The Secretary general of the pro-government union Mohyideen Tetawi said that they will defend press freedom by all means but at the same time stressed that the country's sovereignty and dignity is a red line cannot be overstepped .

Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last year lifted press censorship after petitions from the journalists' union but warned editor in chiefs that they should avoid what leads to exceeding the red lines and avoid mixing what is patriotic and what is destructive to the nation, sovereignty, security, values and its morality .

Sudan intelligence services have imposed press censorship, which was lifted in September, six months ahead of a key referendum on independence for south Sudan, the country's association of journalists said.

We have been notified by the intelligence services that the newspaper Al-Intibaha has been closed and that from today press censorship has once again been imposed, Mohiedinne Titawi, president of the Sudanese Union of Journalists, told AFP.

The censorship will focus on the issue of the country's unity or separation and the security of south Sudan, he added.

Titawi's comments follow earlier reports by Sudanese journalists that the government halted the distribution of three newspapers considered critical of the authorities in south Sudan.

The three dailies, Al-Intibaha, Al-Tayyar and Al-Ahdath, which are all deemed critical in one way or another of the south Sudan authorities, were not available on the streets of the capital on Tuesday, according to journalists working for the publications.

Al-Intibaha, which will be closed for an undetermined period, according to its editor Al-Siddig al-Rizeigui, was one of the only newspapers openly advocating secession.

Update: Ban lifted

6th October 2010. See article from google.com

President Omar al-Bashir has lifted a ban on an influential newspaper critical the authorities in south Sudan that was closed three months ago.

Sudan's National Assembly has welcomed the National Security Organ's decision to lift censorship, terming it as a significant step toward boosting press freedoms.

Abdurham Ahmed Al-Sheikh Al-Fadni, the Head Acting Human Rights Committee, hailed the initiative of the national press to serve national interests and enlightenment on challenging facing the country. He said the decision would put Sudanese press before a new challenge with regard to performing its duties toward the country through self-monitoring and complying with the Press Ethic, Press Association and Press & Prints Council.

Lieut. Gen. Mohamed Ataa, Chief of National Security and Intelligence affirmed that the organ preserves it constitutional right to impose partial or full censorship whenever necessary, adding that the security organ is keen on press and political rights as long as there is common agreement to prejudice against principles of the country and unity of its territories.

Amnesty International calls on Sudan to release 16 people seized during a raid on a newspaper headquarters in Khartoum.

16 people, including nine members of staff working with the Communist party-affiliated newspaper Al-Midan, were arrested by National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents.

The Sudanese government must immediately release all those detained during this blatant attempt to stifle free speech, said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International's Africa Program director: The people of Sudan have every right to peaceful protest without fear of arrest, assault and harassment. And the media have every right to freely report these events.

The Al-Midan newspaper was banned from distributing an edition which carried reports covering protests in Khartoum inspired by those in Tunisia and Egypt. Opposition newspaper Ajrass Al Hurriya and independent Al Sahafa were also stopped from distributing similar reports.

Sudanese security forces confiscated the entire Sunday edition of an independent newspaper, its editor said.

Sudan's constitution supposedly guarantees press freedom but several journalists have been detained without charge in recent months and papers are often subject to direct censorship.

Police came after midnight and took all copies after we had printed it. They gave no explanation, said Osman Murghni, editor of Al-Tayar newspaper. He said authorities had not informed the newspaper why the edition was taken and he said it was probably to show its disapproval of coverage of Monday's elections in South Kordofan.

On August 8, issues of Al-Ahdath , a Sudanese daily newspaper, were confiscated by security forces.

Officials have yet to provide an explanation for the confiscation. Previously, officials pressured the editor of Al-Ahdath to retract articles written about violence in South Sudan.

Sudan's government is considering introducing even more restrictions on the country's press..

The Sudanese National Assembly is considering introducing a new press and publications law that will further restrict freedom of expression in the North. Sudan's National Congress Party (NCP) is contemplating enforcing pre-publication censorship as it did between 1989 and 2009. Following this, the government passed a new law, which it claimed was a step towards press freedom. However, despite the new law, pre-publication censorship was selectively enforced by the regime during Sudan's 2010 elections.

The details of the proposed legislation have not been made available to the public.

...See the full article

On Sunday, Sudanese security forces confiscated issues of Al-Maydan, the bi-weekly mouthpiece of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP).

According to the newspaper, this is the sixth time in the last four months that copies have been confiscated.

Update: More

16th September 2011. See article from indexoncensorship.org

Al-Sahafa, a Sudanese independent newspaper, was confiscated by security forces on Wednesday, and the Thursday edition was also held from distribution, according to editor Annur Ahmed Annur.

Sudan will suspend six sports newspapers and issue warnings to three others, the national press council said, for supposed violations including encouraging violence between rival soccer teams, in the latest crackdown on the media.

The National Press Council will suspend the sports newspapers because they had violated journalistic standards and for administrative issues, which are damaging Sudan's reputation, its Secretary General El-Obeid Ahmed Morawah said. He cited the encouragement of violence between competing football teams as one violation.

In July, two female journalists of the al-Jarida daily were sentenced to one month in prison for writing an article about the alleged rape of an activist by security forces. The security forces have categorically denied the rape allegations.

Security forces have now informed al-Jarida staff that it will no longer be allowed to publish, said editor-in-chief Saad el-Din Ibrahim. They told us about a decision by security forces that the newspaper will be closed and its property will be confiscated. They didn't give a reason. Staff were told by them to take their personal belongings.

Update: Another

30th October 2011. See  article from  allafrica.com

The editor of the Arabic daily newspaper Alwan told Reuters that security agents arrived late on Saturday's night and banned the title from distributing its Sunday edition.

According to Alwan's editor, Ahmed Younis, no reason was given for the ban.

They told us the edition would be confiscated. Until now I have no ideas why they did that. I think they just want put pressure on the publisher, editor Ahmed Younis said.

The entire print-run of two Sudanese newspapers have been seized by The National Intelligence and Security Services.

Al-Tayar and Al-Youm Al-Tali newspapers 20th February editions were confiscated after they published statements made by Hassan al-Turabi the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP). Turabi alleged that his office had been wiretapped by security services, and showed journalists some of the listening devices he found. Security agents arrived at the newspaper's Khartoum offices and seized the expose edition.

Twenty newspaper reporters protested the confiscation in front of the National Press Council, which licenses newspapers.

Sudanese intelligence agents seized copies of an independent daily newspaper after it refused to pull an anti-government columnist, the chief editor said.

The confiscation of Al-Jarida adds to thousands of other newspaper pages already seized from publications this year in what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said is an attempt to silence opposition news coverage.

A few days ago they ordered us by telephone to stop one of our columnists from writing, Al-Jarida's editor, Osman Shinger, told AFP, referring to the security service: We refused. For that reason they stopped our paper from distributing.

Sudanese security forces confiscated the Sunday editions of two newspapers. Authorities confiscated copies of the independent al-Sahafa, one of Sudan's oldest dailies, after it had been printed, the newspaper's editor Alnoor Ahmed Alnoor said.

We consider the confiscation to be equal to an economic penalty on the newspaper, he said, adding the authorities did not give a reason for the seizure.

A security agent also went to the printing house of the al-Jarida newspaper after midnight and banned it from publishing, managing editor Idris al-Douma said. They confiscated every copy of the paper, he said.

He too said he was not given a reason why the papers were seized.

Sudanese security forces confiscated an edition of one of the country's oldest daily newspapers without giving a reason, its editor said, as authorities extended a crackdown on the media.

Hussein Khogali, editor of Alwan newspaper, said security agents confiscated the paper's Monday edition after it had finished printing, but did not say why.

What happened today inflicted serious material losses on us, especially with the current economic conditions in Sudan, and we don't know why, he said.

Alwan, seen as close to the country's Islamist movement, had been shut down in January this year.

Sudan police have banned the newspaper of the opposition Communist party, al-Midan.  Editor Madiha Abdella said:

The security services have issued a publication ban by ordering our printing and distribution firms to stop dealing with us. This is the end of the printed newspaper.

Al-Midan was one of the few papers still daring to attack President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has faced small protests over inflation and some dissent within the ruling elite.

Last week, the security service temporarily banned al-Intibaha, Sudan's biggest daily because it published a report about the army's fight against rebels in South Kordofan.