Bloomberg correspondent flees Sudan amid threats to safety
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July 17, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - A Bloomberg correspondent working in Sudan
has reportedly fled the country in fear of his life after being
threatened and assaulted by authorities while covering an
anti-government protest, the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) said.
Michael Gunn, 35, a Scottish national, told CPJ he is accredited by
the Sudanese government and had been covering a wide range of issues,
including economic and political news, since his arrival in the
country last November.
Gunn, who left Sudan on 2 July, told CPJ threats were made against him
after he was detained arbitrarily by authorities, following a 29 June
rally in which thousands of protesters called for president Omar
Hassan al-Bashir’s resignation.
The protest was organised by the youth branch of the National Umma
Party (NUP) and was one of the largest anti-government rallies to take
place in recent years.
Gunn told CPJ that he was seized by security agents in plainclothes
while he was covering the rally in Omdurman. He said he was hit
several times, his bag and pockets searched, and his shirt pulled over
his head before being thrown into the back of a truck with several
Sudanese citizens.
Gunn said the assailants took him to a building where a man in
plainclothes told him in English that if it were up to him, the
journalist would be killed, but that they had to wait for further
instructions from security personnel.
The journalist said that he was then blindfolded and questioned for
three hours about what he was doing in Sudan, during which time he was
slapped by his interrogators and ordered to unlock his smartphone.
Following the interrogation, he was put back in a truck and released
on a nearby street.
“Sudanese authorities assaulted and threatened an international
journalist, with apparent impunity and with the effect of preventing
the reporter from carrying out his duties”, CPJ Middle East and North
Africa coordinator Sherif Mansour said. “Michael Gunn should be
allowed to work freely in Sudan without fear of harassment”.
Sudanese authorities have yet to respond to attempts by CPJ to contact
them over the matter.
However, Rabie Abdelati, a senior official in the ruling National
Congress Party (NCP), told Reuters the incident was regrettable and
that the behaviour of the security agents in question was
unacceptable.
Sudanese authorities have a track record of harassing journalists in
the past. In June, authorities detained Sudanese reporter Khalid Ahmed
for three days and interrogated him on allegations of harming the
morale of the armed forces.
His detention was reportedly linked to an article published in
Al-Sudani about a visit in early June by a top military official to
the conflict-affected South Kordofan state.
The report, which is no longer available, but was reproduced on an
online forum said rebels had attacked the convoy of the army’s
chief-of-staff, resulting in clashes which left several soldiers
injured and a military aircraft destroyed.
Earlier this year, authorities banned two prominent Arabic-language
dailies, Al-Meghar al-Syasy and Al-Intibaha, as well as Communist
newspaper al-Midan for daring to publish reports critical of the
government.
Sudan was ranked the 170th worst offender out of the 179 countries
included in the latest press freedom index published by Reporters
Without Borders (RWB) in January.
Security agents routinely carry out pre-publication censorship,
arbitrary arrests of journalists and newspaper seizures.
(ST)
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