Sudan charges journalists with defamation over rape case
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March 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Three Sudanese journalists have been
charged with defamation by the local authorities for writing about the
rape of a Sudanese female activist last month, in the latest assault
against press freedom in the highly-censored country.
JPEG - 11 kb
A Sudanese journalist during protests against censorship in Khartoum
November 4, 2008 (Reuters Pictures)
Sudan stepped up the use of censorship against newspapers and
confiscated copies of two dailies following the outbreak of
anti-government protests on 30 January, organized via the internet by
youth groups inspired by revolts in neighboring Libya and Egypt.
The demonstration, which failed to take on a mass appeal, was swiftly
dispersed by Sudanese anti-riot police supported by members of the
National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) who arrested dozens
of activists, including journalists who were covering the event,
prompting a condemnation from the global press watchdog Reporters
Without Borders (RWB)
“We condemn the wish of the Khartoum government to censor news by
intimidating journalists and dissuading them from covering protest
movements,” RWB said in a release on 31 January.
Saffiya Ishaq, a female activist affiliated with the youth
anti-government group Grifna, claimed she was beaten and gang-raped by
three plain clothes security men nearly three weeks after she took
part in the protests, igniting a wave of furious reactions and calls
for an investigation.
Three prominent journalists, including the columnist of Al-Akhbar
daily newspaper Faysal Muhammad Salih, Amal Habani of Al-Jareeda
newspaper and Fayiz Al-Silaik of the SPLM-linked Ajrass Al-Hurriyah,
said they were charged with defamation and publishing false
information on the grounds of their calls for an investigation into
Saffiya’s case.
"They want to scare people to terrorize the journalists so they don’t
write about their abuses," Amal Habbani told Reuters on Saturday,
saying that her paper had sacked her fearing retribution from the
security services.
Faysal Mohamed Salih told Reuters that the charges aim to scare
journalists into silence, adding that the charges brought against him
and his paper under the media law and the criminal code were
punishable by a prison sentence and/or a hefty fine.
RWB issued a statement condemning the charges and accusing the
judiciary of collusion with the security services.
"This is yet another example of a determination to gag the press and
curb free expression," RWB Secretary-General Jean-Francois Julliard
said in a statement.
"Nothing should be allowed to prevent the media from covering human
rights violations in Sudan, which continue to be extremely worrying,"
he added.
Sudan, which is ranked as 172 out of 178 in RWB’s world press freedom
index, has long used a wide array of methods to circumvent the rights
of free expression guaranteed under its interim constitution of 2005.
The NISS, which guards against the publishing of sensitive topics, is
granted wide powers under the security law act and its members enjoy
immunity from prosecution.
Broadcast media in Sudan is tightly controlled by the state whereas
print-media outlets are forced to practice self-censorship for fears
of being denied government advertisements on which most newspapers
rely to sustain themselves in the absence of high-circulation.
In a related development, Sudan last week issued police summons for a
number of civil society activists who visited the house of Saffiy
Ishaq’a family, including Mariam Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi of the National
Umma Party. The activists were charged with “criminal complicity” and
“inciting ethnic hatred.”
(ST)
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