Journalists picket Sudan News Agency for liberation of public media

The Sudanese Journalists Network (SJN) have called on its members, prominent media cadres and academics to participate in the Journalists March on Wednesday, “to liberate the Sudan News Agency” (SUNA).

In a statement, the SJN said the march will be followed by other marches to liberate all official institutions and media.

In an earlier statement, the Network demanded an end to the manipulation of state-owned media and national institutions that served the regime of former president Omar Al Bashir and immediately “release” them. It called upon the signatories of the Declaration of Freedom and Change and the Sudanese Professionals Association to take steps towards “liberating the national institutions from the remnants of the abominable regime, especially the telecommunications sector, which endangered the lives of millions of Sudanese, as it was used as a vehicle for monitoring by the security apparatus”.

International press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) and the Sudanese Journalists’ Network said in March that dozens of journalists have been arrested since December. Numerous newspapers have been seized prior to distribution or banned from publishing in an attempt by the security apparatus, the NISS, to censor news outlets that circulate information that the government does not want to be public.

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