Sudanese court acquits prominent Communist Party members

On Monday, the Press and Publications Court in Khartoum acquitted the spokesman for the Communist Party of Sudan (CPoS) and the editor-in-chief of the party’s mouthpiece, El Midan newspaper, of charges relating to ‘publishing false news’.

In July 2013, El Midan published a political commentary by CpoS spokesman Ibrahim Mirghani about the magnitude of the palm tree losses that occurred in the Northern State during the past few years. He strongly criticised the inability of the authorities to seriously investigate the matter, and arrange for compensation.

El Midan editor-in-chief Madeeha Abdallah has also been charged of violating the press law. In January the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) filed a complaint against the newspaper, after it published an interview on 28 December, with Abdelaziz El Hilu, Military Chief of Staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

In the interview, El Hilu had expressed SPLM-N’s solidarity with the protesters in Lagawa, West Kordofan state. Residents of Lagawa embarked on a sit-in mid-November last year, in protest against the overall lack of basic services, such as clean drinking water, electricity, roads, health care, and education, in the state.

In response to the publication, security officers confiscated El Midan’s print-runs five times between 1 and 11 January. They refrained from explaining the reason at the time.

The Communist Party stated that it will continue publishing the newspaper “in spite of all the obstacles and barriers”.