Sudan security gags two newspapers

09/07/2018 18:42 KHARTOUM

Agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated the entire print-runs of Akhir Lahza and El Jareeda newspapers in Khartoum on Sunday.
El Jareeda newspaper reported on its FaceBook page that security officers banned the distribution of the newspaper early on Sunday morning.
It said that the distribution of the newspapers to the states usually starts before 5 am, and to various places in the capital before 6 am.
The editor-in-chief of Akhir Lahza daily newspaper, Osama Abdelmajid, said the confiscation was made without providing a reason.
The security apparatus stopped El Jareeda columnist Mahmoud Abdeen and El Sayha newspaper editor Hamad Yousef El Tay, from writing a month ago.
On June 14, the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement in which it strongly condemned “another [NISS] offensive against critical journalists and media outlets”.
“The NISS must stop operating as an ‘editorial police’ that censors journalists and systematically suppresses any critical publication, listing taboo subjects as it pleases,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The survival of a free press in Sudan is at stake.”
Sudan is ranked 174th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

Akhir Lahza daily newspaper (file photo)

Agents of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated the entire print-runs of Akhir Lahza and El Jareeda newspapers in Khartoum on Sunday.

El Jareeda newspaper reported on its FaceBook page that security officers banned the distribution of the newspaper early on Sunday morning.

It said that the distribution of the newspapers to the states usually starts before 5 am, and to various places in the capital before 6 am.

The editor-in-chief of Akhir Lahza daily newspaper, Osama Abdelmajid, said the confiscation was made without providing a reason.

The security apparatus stopped El Jareeda columnist Mahmoud Abdeen and El Sayha newspaper editor Hamad Yousef El Tay, from writing a month ago.

On June 14, the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement in which it strongly condemned “another [NISS] offensive against critical journalists and media outlets”.

“The NISS must stop operating as an ‘editorial police’ that censors journalists and systematically suppresses any critical publication, listing taboo subjects as it pleases,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The survival of a free press in Sudan is at stake.”

Sudan is ranked 174th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index.