Khartoum poet summoned to Sudanese Press and Publications Prosecution

Yousef El Dosh, a poet from Khartoum, was summoned to appear before the Sudanese Press and Publications Prosecution, accompanied by a bailsman, regarding a poem he read out on Sudanese TV 24 over one month ago.

According to El Dosh’s Facebook page, the communication came directly from Asmi Jamaleldin, a comissioner of the Transitional Sovereignty Council.

The subject of the poem was on the violent dispersal of protestors at the sit-in in front of the army command in Khartoum on June 3, 2019.

El Dosh said “I apologised for not appearing on the specified dates because I was outside Khartoum.”

In September, 11 Khartoum-based artists were arrested for public disturbance and quickly released following protests. After his release, film director, Hajooj Kuka, told VICE News that the fight for justice would continue, so that the Sudanese people “will be able to create art, we will be able to have freedom of speech, and move on.” He said there are “folks within the police, the judiciary, the prosecution office, that still believe in the old ways.”

Although progress has been made, the media freedom situation in Sudan is “still below the standards set by the transitional government, that was founded on freedom, peace and justice,” said Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on May 3 last year. Today, draconian laws that the old regime used against the media are still in effect.