(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Ali Osmane Yassine, RSF protested the arrests of Alula Berhe Kedani and Osmane Mirghani, journalists with the private dailies “Al Raï Al Akhar” and “Al Raï al A’am”, respectively. The organisation asked Osmane Yassine “to do everything in his power to ensure that Berhe Kedani and Mirghani […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Ali Osmane Yassine, RSF protested the arrests of Alula Berhe Kedani and Osmane Mirghani, journalists with the private dailies “Al Raï Al Akhar” and “Al Raï al A’am”, respectively. The organisation asked Osmane Yassine “to do everything in his power to ensure that Berhe Kedani and Mirghani are immediately released”. RSF recalled that in a document dated 18 January 2000, Abid Hussain, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and freedom of speech, asked all governments “to make sure that press offences are no longer punishable by prison sentences, except in cases involving racist or discriminatory comments or calls to violence (…). Imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion is a serious violation of human rights.” In 1999, both “Al Raï Al Akhar” and “Al Raï al A’am” were shut down several times and the editor-in-chief of “Al Raï Al Akhar”, Amal Abbas, was arrested twice (see IFEX alerts of 17, 8 and 1 September, 19 August, 28 and 6 July and 22 June 1999).
According to information collected by RSF, Mirghani was arrested on 24 August after writing an article in which he accused the Justice Ministry of being a “scarecrow” when handling corruption cases. The journalist has repeatedly been summoned and interrogated for issues considered taboo, including financial corruption, social disintegration and power struggles.
On 25 August, Berhe Kedani was arrested by Sudanese security services. The following day, security men brought the journalist to his newspaper’s headquarters, searched his office and returned with him without giving any information about the journalist’s place of detention. The reasons for this arrest have not been explained.
