Sudanese Security Service on Thursday January 14, 2012 shut down Alwan, an Arabic daily based in Khartoum, a day after the security officers confiscated all the copies due for distribution. Sudanese Journalists Union (SJU), an affiliate of Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), said the security officers did not give any reason for the closer of the newspaper.
The editor, Husain Khojaly, told SJU that the security personnel stormed into the paper’s premises and ordered the closure without giving any reason.
The paper has in the past published many articles supporting Islamist leader Dr. Hasan Al-Turabi who has been calling on Sudanese parties to change the regime.
Two weeks ago, security officers also closed down another Arabic daily, Rayalshab, which belongs to PCP, Al-Turabi’s political party.
EAJA and its affiliate, SJU, have condemned the move and urged the government to immediately lift the ban on the two newspapers.
EAJA Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman said the move went against the “tenets of press freedom and against the country’s own laws which should see any violations by the media lodged in court, not solved through closure”.
“We call on the government to immediately lift the ban on the two papers as this has serious implications for press freedom and freedom of information,” added Osman.