The International Press Institute (IPI) on Wednesday called on the Sudanese authorities to ensure that media covering demonstrations are permitted to do so without fear of attack or harassment, and that citizens have access to a range of political views including opposition voices.
Restrictions on media freedom had worsened since the secession of South Sudan last year, but the blackout further intensified after protests began outside Khartoum University on June 16, 2012. These came in response to the economic crisis and the official announcement of austerity measures and price increases.
Four Sudanese and international journalists have been detained or arrested in the past week alone, amid government efforts to impose a media blackout as protests in the country intensify, reports say. The crackdown on the latest round of demonstrations in Khartoum on Friday, June 29, brought the number of detained protestors to about a thousand, with hundreds of others injured, according to AFP. Opposition members are reportedly hoping this may be the beginning of a Sudanese uprising like those that took place elsewhere in North Africa last year, though the protests have so far been much smaller.
Nonetheless, the vocal opposition appears to have prompted the authorities to limit coverage of it, through arrests, deportations and censorshiop. In a statement sent to IPI, journalist Abdelgadir Mohammed Abdelgadir said that in June the National Intelligence and Security Service of Sudan had begun a “renewed campaign to intimidate, harass, and silence the media in the country”.
Several journalists have been arrested for their reports; others have been detained for speaking to the media. According to the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), journalist Anwar Awad al-Semaini was detained in Khartoum on June 29 after speaking to the Al Hurra TV channel. AFP freelance photographer and journalist for Al Tyar newspaper Talal Saad was detained during a police raid on his office in Khartoum. Sudanese police, according to eyewitness accounts, banned Saad from making phone calls and threatened to confiscate equipment if he did not delete all photos taken of the protests in the Sudanese city of Omdurman, reports say.
On June 19, AFP reporter Simon Martilly was detained for more than 14 hours after covering the protests, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Bloomberg journalist Salma al-Wardani was reportedly detained two days later, banned from practising journalism in the country, and deported on June 26 after authorities accused her of having links to terrorists.
Citizen journalist Nagla Sid Ahmed was prevented from covering the protests, while activist Ussamah Mohamed was detained after speaking critically of the government to Al Jazeera, HRW reported.
Press freedom activist Abdelgadir Mohammed Abedlgadir told IPI that in the past few days six newspapers have been confiscated and one suspended indefinitely. Since May 3, Al Midan newspaper, the mouthpiece for the opposition Sudanese Communist Party, has had all but two issues confiscated after printing, incurring huge financial losses, according to Abdelgadir. He told IPI that Al Tayyar newspaper had been shut entirely, while other newspapers had been confiscated and websites blocked.
