Sudan Steps Backward: National Security Intensifies Violations of Freedom of Expression in 2011

(January 2012) In the months immediately preceding and following South Sudan’s referendum on independence, the Sudanese authorities launched a renewed campaign of systematic repression of freedom of expression featuring new tactics to intimidate and silence independent media in the country. Historically, the Sudanese government’s main method of silencing media was to use the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to ensure pre-censorship of articles deemed sensitive.

Recent actions by agents of the government against the media industry indicate the adoption of a new strategy that focuses on the use of censorship after printing by preventing vendors from distributing copies of their printed papers or confiscating copies from the printing warehouses. This new strategy inflicts enormous financial costs on newspapers and media organisations.  These actions are clearly designed to pressure editors and publishers to delete any material that might upset the ruling National Congress Party in order to ensure the financial survival of the paper.

A second prong of the new government strategy to intimidate and silence independent media in Sudan is the incessant arrests and prosecution of journalists, columnists and editors. These arrests and prosecutions have intensified over recent months.

• In this report, ACJPS calls on the Government of Sudan to end its war on freedom of expression and the media in Sudan by allowing space for journalists to conduct their work without fear of harassment, imprisonment, and torture; end its practices of confiscating and/or closing newspapers; and adhere to all relevant international standards on the freedom of expression.

•  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 closely monitoring the situation.

  Download full report here.

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