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Tuesday 17 January 2012
17 January 2012
Two private newspapers closed down since start of the year
The year began in Sudan in the same vein as previous ones, with new censorship moves. Although the country has a diverse media and enjoys some freedom of speech, the Khartoum authorities have stepped up efforts to silence publications that irritate them.
Within the past two weeks, two independent and opposition newspapers, Alwan and Rai al-Shaab, have been closed by security forces without explanation.
“These latest two newspaper closures show the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has yet to overcome his chronically repressive instincts aimed at silencing the media,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“We fear these examples are merely the start of many and call on the authorities to put an end to this spiral of repression.”
The press freedom organization demands that the two dailies be allowed to resume publication as soon as possible.
On 14 January, police raided the offices of the Arabic-language daily Alwan. Officers closed up the premises and took an inventory of all equipment without giving an explanation. A day earlier, the paper’s editor Hussein Khogli was told by telephone it would be closed down, after copies had been seized over the preceding two days.
The closure order was believed to have been given by Mohamed Atta, the head of the National Intelligence Security Services, and was believed to be linked to the publication of an interview with an Islamist political leader, Lubaba Alfadli. The newspaper was the target of similar suspensions in 2008 and 2009.
On 2 January, it was the Arabic-language Rai al-Shaab, the official newspaper of the opposition Popular National Congress Party led by Hassan al-Turabi, that was the authorities’ target for suspension. Its premises were closed and 15,000 copies of the paper were seized from its printing plant by NISS officials. Its manager, Nagi Dahab, has received no explanation.
The closure could be as a result of the publication of an interview with Gibril Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement concerning the difference in how prisoners were treated by the JEM and by the Sudanese government.
The Sudanese Media Centre, a state-linked website, said the action was taken because the newspaper’s behaviour violated the ethical and professional standards of the journalists’ code of conduct.
The NISS previously closed down Rai al-Shaab in 2010. Its deputy editor Abuzar Ali Al-Amin spent several months in prison, where he suffered ill-treatment. The newspaper resumed publication last October after a court overruled its closure.
Deux journaux priv[[#233]]s suspendus depuis le d[[#233]]but de l'ann[[#233]]e
L'ann[[#233]]e 2012 commence au Soudan dans le m[[#234]]me esprit que les pr[[#233]]c[[#233]]dentes : par des actes de censure. Dans ce pays qui dispose pourtant d'un paysage m[[#233]]diatique divers et d'une certaine libert[[#233]] de parole, les autorit[[#233]]s de Khartoum multiplient les mesures pour r[[#233]]duire au silence les publications qui les d[[#233]]rangent. En l'espace de deux semaines, deux journaux ind[[#233]]pendants et d'opposition, Alwan et Ra[[#239]] al-Shaab, ont [[#233]]t[[#233]] ferm[[#233]]s par les forces de s[[#233]]curit[[#233]] sans la moindre explication.
"Les deux r[[#233]]centes suspensions de journaux d[[#233]]montrent que le gouvernement d'Omar el-B[[#233]]chir n'est toujours pas d[[#233]]cid[[#233]] [[#224]] rompre avec ses r[[#233]]flexes liberticides. Ces pratiques sont r[[#233]]currentes et visent [[#224]] r[[#233]]duire la presse au silence. Nous craignons que ces incidents ne soient que le d[[#233]]but d'une s[[#233]]rie et appelons les autorit[[#233]]s [[#224]] mettre un terme [[#224]] cette spirale r[[#233]]pressive", a d[[#233]]clar[[#233]] Reporters sans fronti[[#232]]res, qui demande que ces deux quotidiens soient autoris[[#233]]s [[#224]] reprendre leur publication sans d[[#233]]lai.
Le 14 janvier 2012, la police soudanaise a fait irruption dans les locaux du quotidien en langue arabe Alwan. Les officiers ont proc[[#233]]d[[#233]] [[#224]] la fermeture des locaux et ont proc[[#233]]d[[#233]] [[#224]] l'inventaire du mat[[#233]]riel, sans aucune explication. La veille, Hussein Khogli, r[[#233]]dacteur en chef du journal, avait appris la suspension de son quotidien au t[[#233]]l[[#233]]phone, apr[[#232]]s deux jours cons[[#233]]cutifs de confiscation des exemplaires.
La d[[#233]]cision de fermeture aurait [[#233]]t[[#233]] prise par Mohamed Atta, le directeur des forces de s[[#233]]curit[[#233]] soudanaises (NISS – National Intelligence Security Services) et serait li[[#233]]e [[#224]] la publication d'une interview de Madame Lubaba Alfadli, leader politique islamiste. Alwan avait d[[#233]]j[[#224]] [[#233]]t[[#233]] victime d'une suspension similaire en 2008 et 2009.
Dix jours plus t[[#244]]t, le 2 janvier, c'est le quotidien arabophone Ra[[#239]] al-Shaab, journal officiel du parti d'opposition Popular National Congress Party du Dr. Hasan Al-Turabi, qui [[#233]]tait [[#233]]galement la cible des autorit[[#233]]s soudanaises. Outre la fermeture des locaux du quotidien, 15000 copies du journal avaient [[#233]]t[[#233]] confisqu[[#233]]es chez l'imprimeur par des officiers de la NISS. Le directeur du journal, Nagi Dahab, n'a pour l'instant obtenu aucune explication des autorit[[#233]]s.
Cette fermeture pourrait faire suite [[#224]] la publication d'une interview du porte-parole du JEM (Justice and Equality Movement), Gibril Ibrahim, relatant les diff[[#233]]rences de traitement des prisonniers de guerre par le JEM et par le gouvernement. Le Centre soudanais des m[[#233]]dias (SMC), site Internet affili[[#233]] [[#224]] l'Etat, justifie quant [[#224]] lui ces mesures par un comportement du journal violant les standards [[#233]]thiques et professionnels du code d'honneur journalistique.
Ra[[#239]] al-Shaab avait d[[#233]]j[[#224]] [[#233]]t[[#233]] ferm[[#233]] sur d[[#233]]cision de la NISS en 2010. Son r[[#233]]dacteur en chef adjoint, Abuzar Ali Al-Amin avait pass[[#233]] plusieurs mois en d[[#233]]tention et avait subi des mauvais traitements (http://fr.rsf.org/soudan-un-journaliste-libere-sous-caution-24-08-2011,40837.html). Le journal venait de reprendre ses publications, en octobre 2011, suite [[#224]] une d[[#233]]cision de la Cour annulant sa suspension.
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