Sudan: Freedom of Expression under Threat

ARTICLE 19 together with its Sudan project partners condemns the latest attempts by Sudanese authorities to silence dissenting voices and intimidate, censor and harass the Sudanese media.

From February 6, 2008 Sudanese security forces began daily visits to print press houses and newspaper offices, removing news articles and columns critical of or unfavorable to the Sudanese Government.

The independent weekly newspaper Al-Midan was prevented from publishing an issue on March 4, following the visit of a security officer to its printing press. Al-Midan was ordered to remove articles detailing the newspaper’s court victory having been found ‘not guilty’ for a case brought against it by Sudanese security forces in April 2007.

The newspaper was also ordered to remove an article discussing the Darfur Sudan Libration Movement and expressing support of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur. Al-Midan is only one of many media institutions in Sudan targeted either through confiscations of newspaper copies, inflated fines and now ‘direct pre-print censorship’.

‘ARTICLE 19 condemns the recent crackdown on freedom of expression in Sudan’ stated ARITCLE 19 Executive Director, Dr. Agnes Callamard; ‘the censorship and harassment and intimidation on journalists carrying out their duties is a serious deterioration of the human rights situation in Sudan and a clear violation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in addition to international conventions such as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)’

ARTICLE 19 and its partners, including the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development, Norwegian People’s Aid, Olof Palme International Centre, Association for Media Development in Southern Sudan, and International Media Support have been running a project on ‘Promoting Civil Society Involvement in Developing Democratic Media Legislation in Sudan’ since 2007.
 

NOTES TO EDITORS

• For more information, please contact Africa Programme Officer, Roxanne Abdulali; roxanne@article19.org, tel: +44 207 278 9292
• For more information on press freedom and media legislative reform in Sudan follow this link: http://theadvocacycentre.blogspot.com/ 

ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works globally to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees free speech.

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