(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate lifting of the ban on the “Khartoum Monitor”, Sudan’s only English-language daily, which was suspended for the seventh time in 2003 on 24 November, this time indefinitely. The state security crimes prosecutor said the newspaper “does not serve the interests of Sudan, its people or national stability.” […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate lifting of the ban on the “Khartoum Monitor”, Sudan’s only English-language daily, which was suspended for the seventh time in 2003 on 24 November, this time indefinitely. The state security crimes prosecutor said the newspaper “does not serve the interests of Sudan, its people or national stability.”
“In August, President Omar al-Beshir said press censorship was being lifted and that everyone would be free to say what they like in newspapers and on state-run television,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “This was confirmed by the Sudanese Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, which said newspapers would never again be censored.
“Yet the secret services and State Security Crimes Prosecutor Mohammed Farid Hassan are still targeting the press. We call on the authorities to keep their promises and allow the immediate reappearance of the ‘Khartoum Monitor’, which has already been suspended for a total of more than six months this year,” Ménard added.
The “Khartoum Monitor”, which was again shut down under Article 130 (paragraphs 1 and 2) of the 1991 Code of Criminal Procedure, had recently published articles about slavery and had questioned the independence of the country’s judiciary and national peace accords that are currently being negotiated. The paper will appeal against the closure.
The latest suspension is part of an ongoing crackdown against the press, which has included several closures since September, including the following cases:
– 2 September: the daily “Alwan”, suspended by Prosecutor Hassan. The Justice Ministry said it could reappear on 24 September, but Hassan closed it again two days later. The ban was finally lifted on 16 October.
– 13 September: the “Khartoum Monitor”, suspended by Hassan in defiance of the Appeal Court’s quashing of a 12 July decision cancelling its publishing licence. It was allowed to reappear on 16 October.
– 30 September: “Al-Azminah” newspaper, suspended by Hassan. The ban was lifted on 16 October.
– 16 November: the daily “Al-Ayyam”, suspended indefinitely by Hassan. It was allowed to reappear on 29 November.
