Sudan newspaper confiscated for second time this week

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated the printed copies of El Tayar newspaper on Tuesday from the printing press for the second time this week.

The security apparatus did not provide any reasons for the confiscation. A journalist from El Tayar said in Sudanese media that an officer from the NISS arrived at the printing press early Tuesday morning to order the confiscation of copies, before distribution to the capital city and state capitals.

El Tayar lost around SDG100,000 ($14,870) in the costs of printing, advertisements and salaries because of the confiscation, the journalist estimated. Copies were also seized last Saturday when El Tayar decided to publish an interview with the chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

During the last month a couple of editors and reporters of El Tayar were subjected to questioning and tried before court. The Press and Publications Court ruled that journalist Suheir Abdelrahim must pay a fine of SDG3,000 ($446,800) for criticising Sudanese police. Abdelrahim was fined on the grounds of insulting the performance of the Khartoum police director in one of her articles.

The acting editor-in-chief of El Tayar, Bahaeldin Eisa, was subjected to a long questioning by NISS officers on 7 September, because of an interview with Abdelaziz El Hilu published that morning. Security agents questioned Eisa for about three hours about the interview Shamayel El Nur had conducted by telephone with El Hilu in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan.