Press freedom curtailed in Sudan
Press freedom in Sudan has been sharply curtailed over the last month, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists:
"Security forces in Khartoum seized the entire print-run of Ra’y Al-Shaab, an opposition Arabic-language daily for the Popular National Congress party, on Thursday, a source told CPJ. Censors from the security services blocked so many articles destined for Thursday’s edition of Al-Sudani, an independent Arabic language daily, that the paper was unable to publish that issue, the source said.
"The authorities told editors the issues were censored to avoid compromising an investigation into the murder of newspaper editor Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed. He was kidnapped and beheaded September 5 in Khartoum. See CPJ’s news alert: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/mideast/sudan06sept06na.html
"Local journalists quoted by Reuters disputed this. They said the censored editions contained articles about the lack of democratic transformation in Sudan, and the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations against price rises for fuel and sugar..."
Reporters Without Borders states the "wave of government censorship that has affected four Arabic-language daily newspapers - Al-Ayam, Al-Sahafa, Al-Sudani and Rai-al-Shaab - in the past week is without precedent since President Omar Al Bashir announced the lifting of state of emergency laws in July 2005."
"Security forces in Khartoum seized the entire print-run of Ra’y Al-Shaab, an opposition Arabic-language daily for the Popular National Congress party, on Thursday, a source told CPJ. Censors from the security services blocked so many articles destined for Thursday’s edition of Al-Sudani, an independent Arabic language daily, that the paper was unable to publish that issue, the source said.
"The authorities told editors the issues were censored to avoid compromising an investigation into the murder of newspaper editor Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed. He was kidnapped and beheaded September 5 in Khartoum. See CPJ’s news alert: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/mideast/sudan06sept06na.html
"Local journalists quoted by Reuters disputed this. They said the censored editions contained articles about the lack of democratic transformation in Sudan, and the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations against price rises for fuel and sugar..."
Reporters Without Borders states the "wave of government censorship that has affected four Arabic-language daily newspapers - Al-Ayam, Al-Sahafa, Al-Sudani and Rai-al-Shaab - in the past week is without precedent since President Omar Al Bashir announced the lifting of state of emergency laws in July 2005."
posted by Stephen Denney | 5:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home