Sudan crackdown on independent newspapers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/jun/19/press-freedom-sudan

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Three Sudanese newspapers were ordered by the government not to distribute their Sunday issues at the weekend after they had printed them.

The move is seen is an escalation of the government's campaign against press freedom ahead of plans by the authorities to end fuel subsidies.

Independent Sudanese newspapers have been experiencing an increased government crackdown in recent weeks, usually exercised by its controversial security wing, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

It was the NISS that issued orders to the dailies Al-Ahdath, Al-Watan and Al-Jarida not to distribute their Sunday print runs. No reasons were given.

Later, the same papers were told they could not send Monday's editions to the presses until approved by an NISS agent.

These moves indicate the return of the pre-publication censorship system under which Sudanese newspapers suffered in recent years before it was officially suspended in 2009.

Another title, Al-Midan, the weekly mouthpiece of the opposition Sudanese communist party, has received orders not to publish for a month.

Al-Jarida's editor-in-chief, Osman Shinger, told AFP that the publisher had incurred "heavy financial losses" because it could not distribute. He said: "They want to kick us out of the market. It is a bad thing for the freedom of expression in Sudan".

Newspapers are under strict instructions by the NISS to refrain from reporting statements by South Sudanese officials or Sudanese rebel groups from the western region of Darfur or the border regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

<em>Sources:</em> Sudan Tribune/AllAfrica.com/AFP