At dawn, Sunday 9th July 2018, Sudanese authorities confiscated both Akhir Lahza and Al-Jareeda newspapers from their printing facilities shortly before distribution. Al-Jareeda mentioned on Facebook that the National Intelligence and Security Services seized the distribution of the newspaper during the early morning hours of Sunday, and added that distribution of the newspaper for the different Sudanese states begins regularly before 05:00AM, while distribution within Khartoum begins before 06:00AM. Moreover, Mr. Osama Abdelmajid, Editor-in-Chief of Akhir Lahza, assured that the confiscation was done without presenting any justification.

More within the context, National Intelligence and Security Services issued a directive stopping and banning two journalists: Mahmoud Abdeen and Ahmed Yousif Al-Tay from writing their articles last month.

According to Dabanga Radio, on the 14th of June, Reporters Without Boarders released a statement in which it strongly condemned the attack on journalists and criticizing media.

Also, Arno Frugher, the president of Reporters Without Boarder in Africa said, “National Intelligence and Security Services should stop the policing and enforcing of supervision on journalists as well as the systematic suppressing of any criticizing opinion and the specification of forbidden topics as they wish,” then added: “the freedom of press and journalism in Sudan is jeopardized.”

Sudan is the 174th among 180 countries within the press freedom indicator list of 2018 issued by Reporters Without Boarders.

It is worth to mention that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Sudan approved, states in Article (19): “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stated in Article (19) that: “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontier, either orally, in writing or in print in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”

Moreover, the Sudanese constitution included in Article 39-(1) that: “Every citizen shall have an unrestricted right to the freedom of expression, reception of information, publication and access to the press without prejudice to order, safety or public morals as determined by law. The state shall guarantee the freedom of the press and other media as shall be regulated by law in a democratic society. All media shall abide by professional ethics, shall retain from inciting religious, ethnic, racial or cultural hatred and shall not agitate for violence or war.”

Source: Dabanga Sudan