Journalists detained, investigated in Sudan

The copies of a Sudanese newspaper were confiscated for the second time within a week. The security apparatus released a journalist after three days detention while agents forced another journalist's to erase his footage of student protests.

El Watan copies were confiscated from the printing press on Monday by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), for unknown reasons. One week ago the daily published a column that criticised the economic reform in the country.

Mohamed El Amin Abdelaziz, who works for El Jareeda newspaper, was released on Sunday evening. The NISS had detained him since Friday without charges. The Sudanese Journalists' Network reported he was severely beaten by the security agents.

Journalist Faisal El Bagir, the general coordinator of the network, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the security services have also detained El Sayha journalist Mohamed Abu Zaid from the Omdurman Islamic University on Sunday. Abu Zaid was covering the demonstration activities of students for the newspaper.

“He was taken to the NISS office within the university, where they confiscated his phone, deleted the photos he documented about the students’ protests, and then released him.”

Press Council

The prosecutor of the Sudanese Council for Press and Publication (NCPP), an entity that regulates the journalism profession and entry into the field, launched an investigation into the reports of the deterioration of health services in El Zarra Hospital in Khartoum. Journalist Tasneem Abdelseed Ibrahim has published her reports about the poor oncology hospital in El Sudani newspaper.

The NCPP is supervised by the president and has authority to shut down newspapers for three days without a court order, and its members are appointed by the president.

SJN coordinator El Bagir called on the Sudanese journalists to unify against the harrassment of the NISS on the press freedom and freedom of expression in the country.