Police went to the headquarters of "Al-Midan" on 14 April 2009 and ordered the withdrawal of 17 articles from the next day's issue, including the leading editorial
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders condemns the pre-publication censorship of the privately-owned dailies “Al-Midan” and “Ajras Alhurya”.
Police went to the headquarters of “Al-Midan” on 14 April 2009 and ordered the withdrawal of 17 articles from the next day’s issue, including the leading editorial, several stories on the situation in Darfur, and opinion pieces on a media bill currently before parliament. The editors decided not to print the issue at all as so much space would have been left blank. It was the second time in a month that “Al-Midan” had been subjected to such censorship. “Ajras Alhurya” did not appear for three days for similar reasons.
Reporters Without Borders urged the government to stop such practices in an opinion piece entitled “For the good of the country, stop censoring” that was published in the local press on 28 November. “Censorship is useless because it is powerless against reality,” the article said.
