Ajras Al Hurriya suspends publication for a week in protest of censorship

An opposition newspaper in Khartoum announced Sunday that it will not print for an entire week in protest of renewed censorship. Supporters of Ajras Al Hurriya said they intend to engage in protest activities during the week of suspension. Security authorities had forcibly censored the entire front page of the newspaper in a raid before dawn on Friday. The pro-SPLM newspaper remained closed over the weekend. The paper had intended to print news about the doctors’ strike, the Mawasir market Ponzi scheme, and an interview with Yasir Arman, SPLM leader in North Sudan. The censors seemed especially dissatisfied with reporting about the doctors’ strike. For three days last month as well, the National Intelligence and Security Service directly censored the paper before publication.

The censorship is not limited to Ajras Al Hurriya. Reuters news agency reported that journalists from a total of six independent or opposition papers said they were visited and directly censored by the security forces late on Saturday night, while others said they were called and told not to write about specific news including the strike by doctors, unless it was from a government source. Sudan regularly practices direct censorship of the media but it had suspended this practice before the nationwide election held in April.