Sudan security detains journalist in Khartoum

A journalist working for the London-based Arabic newspaper El Hayat in Khartoum was detained on Thursday evening, for reporting about the National Electricity Corporation (NEC). His wife has demanded his release. Journalist El Nur Ahmed El Nur, also working for the website of El Taghyeer news, was held by security agents at 6 pm at the office of El Hayat, in central Khartoum. He was taken to a detention centre of the security service. Later, in the middle of Thursday night, he was transferred to Kober prison in Khartoum north, his wife El Nur Abdallah told Radio Dabanga. She claimed that El Nur was arrested for writing that President Omar Al Bashir issued a decree merging the NEC with other electricity companies. “The security has prevented me from seeing him on Friday morning,” Abdallah said. She called for the release, or a fair trial for her husband. In April 2013, El Nur was removed from his office by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and forced to resign as editor-in-chief for the daily El Sahafa newspaper. A union of journalists released a statement following El Nur’s arrest, stressing the deteriorating position of the press in Sudan. “Journalists in Sudan face a series of restrictions, prosecutions, and other harassments by the government and the NISS. Besides, Sudan imposed a strict control on newspapers and the media, and often prevents publications. In order to prevent journalists from writing, the authorities arrest and prosecute them.” Sudan ranked near the bottom, at 172 out of 180, in the Reporters Without Borders 2014 World Press Freedom Index. File photo: Journalist El Nur Ahmed El Nur (Radio Dabanga archive) Related: Sudanese journalist tortured, beaten in two-day interrogation (2 October 2014) Al Jazeera editor-in-chief summoned by Sudan security services (4 April 2013)