The Khartoum government’s crackdown on free expression continues. Abdelgadir Mohammed Abdelgadir reports
Omar al-Bashir’s government is determined to control the news media, says Abdelgadir Mohammed Abdelgadir
Sudanese media faces heavy government intervention: this year has already seen the arrest of more than 30 journalists and a popular newspaper prevented from printing five times, reports Abdelgadir Mohamed Abdelgadir
Opposition newspaper Al Intibaha, was “suspended indefinitely” on Tuesday 6 July, according to the Sudanese Media Centre. The move comes ahead of January’s referendum on whether the north and south regions of Sudan should become independent states. The head of the Sudanese intelligent services says the closure designed to “contain the negative role played by the paper in strengthening separatist agendas in both south and north Sudan.” The editors of two other newspapers, Al-Tayyar and Al-Ahdath, were contacted by government authorities and forced to rescind articles about conflicts in the south. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is against independence and has called for Sudan to remain united.