Sudan security renews suspension of El Saiha

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) ordered the suspension of the daily El Saiha newspaper less than 24 hours after it resumed publication following a previous ban. Journalists at El Saiha said that their first post-suspension issue on Sunday contained columns that contained strong criticism of government policies, Sudan Tribune reported on Sunday.   The Sunday edition also contained an interview with former National Congress Party figure Ghazi Salaheldin El Atabani, who slammed the parliament for dropping his membership along with others, while maintaining that of notorious militia leader Musa Hilal. In May, NISS director Mohamed Atta Abbas El Moula ordered the indefinite suspension of El Saiha after it published articles on corruption at the Ministry of Justice. The Sudanese minister of information Ahmed Bilal Osman said at the time that the NISS has the legal right to suspend El Saiha and any media raising confusion and dissension in the country. Yasir Mahjoub, editor-in-chief of El Saiha, said that the newspaper incurred heavy financial losses due to the suspension in May. On Saturday, the print run of El Tayyar newspaper was confiscated. The downward trend in Sudan’s press freedom witnessed in 2013 continued this year. The purpose of confiscating print runs is to exhaust the newspapers financially. “It is, in fact, a direct and methodical liquidation, meant to kill the independent press”, the editor-in-chief of El Jareeda newspaper said. (Source: Sudan Tribune) File photo: Journalists protesting press curbs in front of the National Press and Publications’ Council in Khartoum on 1 July.  Related: Sudanese journalists protest press curbs (2 June 2014) Sudanese General warns of ‘decisive battle’ with media (28 May 2014) EU call on Sudan to lift press curbs (28 May 2014) Committee to oversee Sudan media; NCF denounce El Mahdi’s arrest (23 May 2014) Press ‘warned’ in Sudan (21 May 2014)