Verdict against El Midan newspaper postponed

The Sudanese Press and Publications Court has decided to postpone the verdict of the court case against El Midan newspaper which has been running for years.

The case against former editor-in-chief Madeeha Abdallah and Suleiman Hamid, a leading member of the Communist Party, has run for more than two years.El Midan is the mouthpiece of the opposition party.

Abdallah was summoned by the state security prosecution because of an interview with a rebel leader that El Midan published on 28 December 2014. She was charged with ‘undermining the constitutional order’, an offence that carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The court has set January 29 for the verdict.

El Midan daily newspaper has seen four confiscations of its print-runs this month, when it reported on the demonstrations against the increase of prices for consumer goods, and the arrests of protesters and journalists.

One of its reporters, Kamal Karrar, has been detained for covering the protests and is kept at an undisclosed location by the Sudanese security apparatus.