Press Release

Sudan Government: continuous violation of the freedom of expression

June 23, 2005

SHRO-Cairo regrets to report that grave violations of the freedom of expression, the press and publication have been repeatedly committed these past days by unrestricted, non-censored, security authorities that seem to be directly supported by the presidency, the government party, and other ruling bodies of the Sudan Government.

Continuous harassment, including intimidating arbitrary arrests and meaningless security interrogation of journalists, besides a distasteful suspension of Afaq journal and a license withdrawal from the Khartoum Monitor by abusive legal decisions, clearly testifies to the aggressive, non-compromising methods of the government vis-à-vis the public efforts to pursue normal life in the transition to permanent peace and democratic governance.

A while ago, journalist Mohamed Taha was placed under close surveillance, put to a biased trial, and seriously intimidated by government agencies in a penalizing social and legal campaign for a commentary the journalist earlier published in Afaq. The commentary was ideologically interpreted by government supporters to incite hatred against the journalist and his paper. This campaign was then illegally framed as an offensive act against religion by criminal law.

The chaotic pre-trial accusations and the post-trial harassment of the journalist and his paper signified a grievous lawless handling of an ordinary issue of expression by the arresting forces. Moreover, a one-sided government-supportive demonstration roamed the streets threatening to eliminate the journalist’s life for his published material against religion – a situation that subsequently warranted special measures to protect the life of the journalist. Of these measures, however, a court decision required him to avoid writing, all together, on the framed charges!

June the 15th, the Ahliya University suffered grave consequences of a primitive armed attack launched by another terrorist band of the government supporters against the Ahliya campus (a non-governmental native institution of high education) with iron rods and fire arms to intimidate the peaceful students, faculty members, and university staff. The attack, which almost burnt the whole campus to earth, was deliberately meant to curtail the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and the other public activities of the Ahliya Students’ Union.

June the 22nd, the security forces arrested, without charge, Charles Laganya Ronyo, co-editor of the Juba Post in Khartoum, and the journal’s reporters Angelo Wilo and Joseph Alligo from their residence in Khartoum. These unlawful arrests expanded the anti-democratic measures already imposed on the press and journalists by the government.

Earlier, Khartoum Monitor, an independent English-speaking paper, was closed down and its license unlawfully withdrawn by order of a Khartoum court. Apparently, the Monitor’s suspension came about in retaliation of the paper’s critique of the government’s “poor policies and lack of understanding of the needs and rights of the Sudanese citizens displaced in Soba desert south of the capital Khartoum,” as openly forwarded in the Monitor’s editorial.

The government lawless acts against the freedom of expression, the press, and publication constitute a strong barrier to the public efforts to establish a healthy democratic relationship between the authorities, whoever they might be, and people.

• Aware of the promising involvement of some government delegates in the Committee on the Interim Constitution to help establish systems of rule free from authority abuses in the next interim period, SHRO-Cairo condemns, in the strongest terms possible, the government's anti-democratic policy towards the freedom of expression, as well as the unabated aggression and almost “legalized” violence by police, security forces, and government supporters against displaced people, journalism, and academic institutions and persona.
• The Sudan presidency, ruling party, and the other political or executive authorities should live up to the obligation conferred upon them by constitutional law, international human rights norms, and the Naivasha Peace Agreements to create the climates necessary for peace, spread a true spirit of national unity, and end the lawless hegemony of the police, security forces, and political officers of the regime over the public life.
• The Khartoum Monitor, Afaq, and the Juba Post journals and journalists must be fully protected from security intimidation, arbitrary arrest, harassment, or aggression. The right to free press and publication must be ensured without discrimination on the basis of religion, geographical location, or any other criteria.
• The organization asks the government to release the Juba Post journalists immediately from jail.
• The Khartoum Monitor’s license and regular functions must be promptly restored with fair compensation for the journal’s unlawful suspension and the other meaningless security and court interruptions.
• The government must respect academic freedoms and the right of students to exercise the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The Ahliya campus should be fully compensated by the authorities; those who destroyed the campus must be firmly prosecuted by criminal procedure.
• The Sudan Government should provide modern services and town planning to the residential areas of displaced people in the capital Khartoum. Those of the refugees who decide to return to their homelands should be fully equipped with the means and necessary materials to run a secure life at home.