CAIRO: The independent Sudanese newspaper Al-Jarida was been shut down on Tuesday by the Sudanese National Intelligence Security Service after a raid on the newspaper's headquarters led to their equipment being listed and seized, according to the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). Al-Jarida had been raided twice before in September, with officials failing to provide any reason whatsoever. Al-Jarida said it had received numerous threats from the government in order t pressure them not to publish the works of journalists which had been previously associated with Ajraz Al Huriya, a paper which had been banned earlier this year. This move is the latest in a series of attempts by the Sudanese government to restrict the freedom of press, according to the ANHRI press statement. Last July, 6 newspaper licenses were cancelled on the grounds that some of the owners were from South Sudan, and thus now are foreigners. “The Sudanese authorities are steadily moving towards entrenchment of repression, confiscation of freedoms, and fabricating fake justifications to shut up any opinion opposing their policy” said ANHRI. “Freedom of opinion and expression in Sudan suffers severely under this policing regime that adopts confiscation and blocking, and does not recognize dialogue, diversity, or respect to the opposing opinions,” added ANHRI. Following their statement, ANHRI has called for international organisations concerned about freedom of opinion and expression to place pressure on the Sudanese government to guarantee press and media freedom. Sudan is ranked 172 out of the 178 countries listed in the press freedom index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders. BM
