KHARTOUM (AFP) –
A draft press law that would give authorities in Sudan powers to impose heavy fines or even close down newspapers has the country’s media up in arms.
Africa’s largest country boasts around 30 titles in both English and Arabic published daily and representing all persuasions — pro-government, Islamist or even communist — showing off the country’s multi-faceted political make-up.
Already newspapers are screened by state censors every night before hitting the stands, but the new bill, which was submitted to parliament last week, would impose 50,000 Sudanese pound (21,500 dollar) fines for “infractions” and allow a Press Council to close down newspapers.
“In the beginning the censors stopped you publishing certain issues, now they are asking why you do not cover (President Omar al-) Beshir’s visits and pro-Beshir demonstrations,” complained Al-Haj Ali Waraq Sid Ahmed, managing editor of the daily Ajras Al-Huriyya (Bells of Freedom).
“Now they are putting more of an agenda,” he said.
In a recent report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the draft law as “repressive” and “vague.”
It contains “many repressive provisions of the current 2004 Press and Publications Act, including strict media registration rules, vague reporting prohibitions, a National Press Council that lacks independence and has broad regulatory powers, and heavy fines and criminal sanctions for media outlets and journalists,” the group said.
An embattled President Beshir is trying to rally public opinion in his fight against the International Criminal Court which in March issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur.
But journalists argue that the war in Darfur — where are at least 300,000 people have died in six years of fighting according to the United Nations — remains a mystery to those inside Sudan despite massive publicity abroad.
“Because of the censorship, for the ordinary people in Khartoum… Darfur is veiled,” said Sid Ahmed, whose newspaper lost three consecutive editions to the censor in mid-April.
Sudan recently removed some 15 articles from proofs of the Al-Midan weekly, which preferred not to go to print under such conditions.
Each evening, so-called “state editors” scour newspaper proofs for articles or editorials that are deemed sensitive to the government, a form of censorship from which foreign outlets are not exempt.
The new bill has outraged many.
A fine of 50,000 Sudanese pounds, “this is a lot of money!,” exclaims Moheddine Titawi, head of the Sudanese Journalists’ Association, who describes as “unjust” the powers accorded to the country’s Press Council, whose independence is not guaranteed by the bill.
“The law insists only on punishment. It is aggressive punishment,” regrets Mohammed Abdel Qadir, who sits on the editorial board of the pro-government daily Al-Rayy Al-Aam.
“It did not address the issue of freedom of expression and the right of the public to information,” he said.
The draft law comes at a critical time in Sudan which is due to hold its first general elections in more than 20 years in February next year.
“It’s a horrible (bill), it needs a lot of amendments,” said Yasir Arman, head of the parliamentary bloc of the southern former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
“How do we go to elections without free media?” he asked.
