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A Sudanese editor has received a death threat following the publication of an article critical of the country’s president, Salva Kiir.
Dengdit Ayok, vice-editor of the English-speaking newspaper The Destiny, was arrested and detained for two weeks for publishing a news story on the marriage of the president’s daughter to an Ethiopian. The article was deemed unethical by Sudanese authorities, who also said the newspaper continued publishing “isolated topics that should not be published for the public”.
A parliamentary seminar to discuss proposed changes to Sudan‘s press law was subject to a heated debate about pre-publication censorship on Monday. During the seminar, a leading member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Fathi Shilah, described press censorship as an act of backwardness regardless of the authority that implements it. The current press law in the country, passed in 2009, has been heavily criticised by journalists who claim the law only appears to create a free press. Newspapers are confiscated and censored by security authorities aiming to prevent publication and large financial penalties can be handed to journalists.
The Sudanese security authorities have instructed newspapers to avoid reporting the activities of rebel groups in the country. Local reports say the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) contacted chief editors of national newspapers and ordered them not to publish any statements by Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim or leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which is fighting the government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
According to a source on the ground in Sudan, National Scurity forces prevented the distribution of Al-Maydan, the newspaper belonging to the Sudanese Communist party on 13 September. Yesterday was the fifth confiscation of the tri-weekly newspaper since last week. Other newspapers have also been confiscated on multiple occasions in the past month.