Sudan’s Bashir endorses newspapers closures, warns journalists against insulting army ArticleComments (1). Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 16, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir for the first time addressed the recent crackdown by the authorities on several newspapers over the last few months saying that they have endangered national security and insulted the army in what they published. Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir “We are now fighting and we have an army battling. Any [negative] comments on the spirits of the armed forces or attacking the armed forces or endangering national security; no state accepts prejudice to its national security,” Bashir told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV in an interview aired yesterday. Since the beginning of the year, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) have permanently suspended three newspapers including Rai al-Sha’ab, Alwan and al-Tayar. The latter was allowed to resume only after making a public apology and making other editorial changes. It was revealed that the privately owned Al-Tayar newspaper was closed for publishing an Op-ed by a university professor who commented on a TV interview Bashir made last month. Professor Mohamed Zain Al-Abdeen criticized the president’s response to a question on government corruption and questioned Bashir’s wealth as well. Al-Abdeen was detained afterwards without charges for two weeks and Al-Tayar was suspended. Bashir denied the closure was related to what was written about him or corruption. “The reason wasn’t corruption. If you read Mohamed Zain’s article, he said that the armed forces are not national; ones that are run by the Islamist movement. There are forces fighting. We are fighting a real war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile so if Khartoum talks about non-national forces…this means it is demoralizing these troops [by saying] you are fighting for the Islamic movement” the Sudanese president told Al-Jazeera. He defended the move against the other newspapers by NISS. “If we look at the two newspapers closed down there were objective reasons for security organs to intervene and shut down these newspapers” Bashir said. When the interviewer corrected him to say that there are more than two newspapers that were suspended, Bashir said there are arrangements to lift suspension of the others. “They apologized to the blunder they made against the armed forces with regards to Al-Tayar….When a newspaper in Khartoum calls for a Negro revolution, a Negro Spring I think no state can tolerate a racist call and inciting within the country at a time we are fighting,” he said. The Sudanese authorities routinely seize copies of several newspapers as punishment for publishing material disapproved by the government. They also issue directives to editors in chief on what not to publish. Sudan has been ranked among the world’s 10 worst countries with regards to media freedom in the 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
