Sudan: Separatist paper shut ahead of independence poll

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.

Somaliland: Journalists arrested over opposition flag

Police in Somaliland arrested three journalists and six others last Wednesday (2 June), after activists leased a house next to that of the region’s president and used it to display a flag in support of the opposition Kulmiye party. Speaking from prison, one of the journalists, Mohamed Said, claimed that he was arrested after he filmed police beating a group of opposition supporters. The arrests come during the run-up to a presidential election scheduled for 26 June.

Azerbaijan: Authorities clamp down on protesters

On April 14,  47 members of the opposition Musavat (Equality) Party were detained for participating in a demonstration in Baku, in the first political rally ahead of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections in November 2010.  Demonstrators carried placards calling for freedom of speech, association and assembly, and one called for President Ilham Aliyev to resign. Article 19 has called on the government to ensure that international standards are upheld in the conduct of the elections. Journalists must also be able to exercise their profession unimpeded and must have the freedom to report on political events”, said Dr Agnès Callamard, Article 19’s executive director.