African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
(6 January 2012) On Friday, 6 January the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) issued a new report documenting a year-long campaign by the Government of Sudan to limit the freedom of expression and press (Sudan Steps Backward: National Security Intensifies Violations of Freedom of Expression in 2011). Using new tactics that include preventing vendors from distributing copies of printed papers, and directly targeting journalists and editors, this strategy is designed to prevent editors, journalists, and publishers from printing material that might upset the ruling National Congress Party. Media professionals arrested by National Security officials have been victims of torture, confiscation of equipment and even a ban on any future publishing. Over the course of 2011, ACJPS documented the arrest of over 20 journalists, closure of 6 newspapers, countless confiscations of printed papers and the banning of 3 journalists from publishing. These incidents continued into December 2011 and early January 2012. They highlight the worsening climate for journalists and the freedom of expression in Sudan.
The most recent examples of the new strategy to intimidate media professionals and radically circumscribe freedom of expression are listed below.
On 12 December a guilty judgment was announced in a case filed by the NISS against the Aljareeda newspaper under article 66 of the Sudanese Criminal Act and articles 25, 26 and 35 of the Media and Publication Law. The editor of the paper, Saeed Aldeen, and journalist Maha Altilib were listed as the first and second defendants. In September 2011, the paper was accused of publishing false information in an article reporting that the Sudanese army would not withdraw from Abyei. The newspaper and Maha Altilib were ordered to pay fines of 500 and 250 Sudanese Pounds respectively. At the same time, the NISS announced that Aljareeda would be allowed to resume publication, which had been suspended since September.
On December 14, 2011 three members of Alsgrood Cultural Forum (Gaffar Khidir, Taha Mohamed Alhassan and Ramis Khidi Alhassan) were arrested by police in Algedarif, Eastern Sudan while holding a public forum on NISS practices that prevent them from organizing public events. They were charged with duplication of false information and disturbing the public peace under Articles 66 and 69 of the Sudanese Criminal Act. The group previously attempted to file a case with the Attorney General but was refused.
On 25 December, while covering student protests at Khartoum University, journalist Khalid Ahmed was taken to NISS offices where all the photos on his camera relating to the protests were deleted. He was released several hours later, but forced to give his identification and mobile phone numbers, full address, and draw a map to his home for the NISS officers.
On 2 January 2012, officials from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated printed copies of the Rai Alshaab newspaper, appropriated the organization’s offices and announced the closure of the paper on Sudan TV. Two weeks earlier, Mauda Hmad, a journalist for the paper, was interrogated for three hours regarding an article published about the death of a community leader in West Darfur.
The closure and suspension of newspapers and targeting of specific journalists undermines the freedom of expression in Sudan, guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Civil and Political Rights, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, instruments to which Sudan is a party, and Article 39 of the Sudanese Interim National Constitution.
The African Centre for Justice and Peace calls on the government of Sudan to respect the freedom of expression through its regulatory body, the Press and Publications Council. The government should immediately end its policies of pre-publication censorship, harassment of journalists and newspapers, and use of intimidation tactics designed to prevent media officials from reporting on issues the government deems sensitive.
ACJPS also urges the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion to use the mandates their offices to seek further information about the state of Freedom of Expression in Sudan by undertaking fact-finding missions to the country and engaging in consistent close monitoring of the situation.
For more comprehensive documentation of government-sponsored violations of freedom of expression in Sudan in 2011 please read Sudan Steps Backward: National Security Intensifies Violations of Freedom of Expression in 2011.
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