Three Sudanese newspapers censored in night raid

Security forces raided the premises of three newspapers last night without warning and forced them to remove articles before printing. The censors arrived at around 2 or 3 in the morning. The newspapers were Ajras Al Hurriya, Al Sahafa and Al Sudani. The entire front page of Ajras Al Hurriya had to be removed, so the newspaper staff decided not to publish.  A journalist said that the paper had intended to print an interview with former SPLM presidential contender Yasir Arman, lots of news about the doctors’ strike and the Mawasir market Ponzi scheme, and some opinion pieces. Censors of the National Intelligence and Security Service had moved against the paper last month as well, on the night of 19-20 May. The censorship lasted for three days and the paper chose not to publish on two of those days. Sudan regularly practices direct censorship of the media but it suspended this practice before the nationwide election held 11-15 April.

Security forces raided the premises of three newspapers last night without warning and forced them to remove articles before printing. The censors arrived at around 2 or 3 in the morning. The newspapers were Ajras Al Hurriya, Al Sahafa and Al Sudani. The entire front page of Ajras Al Hurriya had to be removed, so the newspaper staff decided not to publish.  A journalist said that the paper had intended to print an interview with former SPLM presidential contender Yasir Arman, lots of news about the doctors’ strike and the Mawasir market Ponzi scheme, and some opinion pieces. Censors of the National Intelligence and Security Service had moved against the paper last month as well, on the night of 19-20 May. The censorship lasted for three days and the paper chose not to publish on two of those days. Sudan regularly practices direct censorship of the media but it suspended this practice before the nationwide election held 11-15 April.