Sudan seizes copies of English-language paper
Sudan’s security apparatus has seized copies of a local English-language newspaper, the latest episode in months of threats and seizures, its chief editor said on Thursday.
William Ezekiel said copies of the Sudan Tribune were confiscated on Wednesday for the 17th time this month and that he had been summoned by national security forces.
“They want to punish us financially in order for the newspaper to die out, which is the worst punishment,” said Ezekiel.
He said the National Press Council on Tuesday sent a “final” written warning to the newspaper specifying that failure to comply with conditions would see the newspaper closed on September 1.
Ezekiel said the Press Council wants him, as chief editor, to be based in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, not Juba, in the semi-autonomous south.
Ezekiel’s newspaper opened an office in Juba earlier this year.
He also said the council wants the newspaper to replace its editorial board and submit a new list of names for approval, and that all those writing for the paper must have a graduate degree.
“Even the Arabic dailies and other English dailies, they have the same problems,” Ezekiel said referring to censorship. “Why are they picking us out?”
Ezekiel has been summoned various times by the Press Council after the Sudanese authorities have taken umbrage over various articles.
The interim constitution in Sudan, ushered in for the six-year implementation of a landmark peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war between north and south, upholds freedom of the press and expression.
But censorship is practised daily. The powerful security apparatus inspects newspaper editions nightly, and editors who refuse to remove articles deemed offensive risk a ban on their publications.