Print runs of two Sudanese newspapers seized

On Wednesday, security authorities seized the print-runs of El Tagyeer and El Jareeda newspapers directly after printing, without giving any reasons for the confiscation.

The seizure coincided with the Sudanese shadow government’s press conference which was to be held at the Taiba Press buildings on Wednesday. The shadow finance minister, a Sudanese opposition member who is part of an alternative cabinet, would be speaking about Sudan's budget.

On Wednesday, El Jareeda editor Ashraf Ibrahim told Radio Dabanga 11,000 copies of the newspaper were confiscated for the third time within this month. He added that the responsible authorities of the Press Council and others do not have any impact on the newspapers, because the security apparatus, who confiscated the newspapers, is de facto the highest authority in the country.

He highlighted that the confiscation economically affects the journalists who earn wages, and the reader who goes to the bookshop or kiosk and finds no newspaper.

The El Mustagilla newspaper has suffered a series of government harassment incidents during the past few months, and was confiscated five times last May, and twice in early July.

El Tagyeer newspaper – owned by the Minister of Health of Khartoum State, Mamoun Hummeida – has earlier suffered similar procedures.

Challenging time

The Sudanese Journalists Network responded in a statement last month that the Sudanese press is experiencing the most challenging time in its history under the current regime. It said that the Sudanese regime has used “all kinds of weapons and tactics to subdue the press”, including confiscation of newspapers and exploiting some of the laws to persecute and intimidate journalists via the parliamentary and judicial measures, in order to “humiliate them”.

Sudan is listed near the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index.