APRIL 21, 2005
Posted: May 17, 2005
Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, Al-Wifaq
LEGAL ACTION
Al-Wifaq
CENSORED
Ahmed, an editor, was tried on criminal charges of insulting the Prophet Mohammed after publishing an April 21 article in the daily Al-Wifaq. The article, by the well-known Muslim historian Al-Maqrizi, called into question the Prophet Mohammed's lineage, according to a local source and press reports. Ahmed, himself an Islamist, claims he published the historian's account in order to rebut it, according to the BBC and a CPJ source.
Newspapers and religious leaders attacked Ahmed following the publication of the article. The National Press Council, Sudan's official press regulator, imposed a three-day suspension on the paper, and the state prosecutor brought charges against Ahmed.
The exact charges against Ahmed were unclear, although press reports said that Ahmed could face the death penalty if he is found guilty of apostasy.
APRIL 26, 2005
Posted: May 17, 2005
Brad Clift, freelance
IMPRISONED
Sudanese security forces detained Clift while he was taking photographs at an internally displaced persons camp outside Nyala, capital of Darfur's southern state. Clift works for The Hartford Courant but was in Sudan as a freelancer traveling with the relief group, Hartford Catholic Worker, which was distributing food at camps around Nyala.
Authorities accused Clift of working without the proper permit, but charges were never filed against him. Clift was released from custody May 10. His passport and equipment, which had been confiscated during his detention, were returned.
While in custody, Clift was held under house arrest at the U.S. Agency for International Development office.
Since the conflict in Darfur broke out in early 2003, tens of thousands of people from western Sudan have been killed by government-supported militias, and up to two million displaced from their homes. Sudanese authorities have tried to suppress reports of atrocities there by obstructing the work of foreign journalists who cover the region, according to CPJ research.
JUNE 12, 2005
Posted: June 21, 2005
The Khartoum Monitor
CENSORED
Sudanese justice officials canceled the license of Sudan's English-language daily, The Khartoum Monitor.
Alfred Taban, the paper's chairman, said he was notified in a letter from the National Press Council, the government agency that regulates the press. Taban told CPJ that a criminal court had suspended the newspaper's license in July 2003 after it ran articles about slavery in Sudan, but an appeals court later restored the license. Sudan's Supreme Court endorsed the appellate ruling, and the paper had published normally since March 2004.
But Taban said he was surprised to learn that Sudan's chief justice appointed a committee to re-examine the newspaper's license. The June 12 cancellation notice said the committee decided that the original court ruling was proper; it offered no explanation for the basis of the decision or the procedural grounds that allowed such a committee to rule. Taban told CPJ that he is not aware of any precedent that allows for such a committee to be formed or to overturn a court decision.
The Monitor stopped publishing after receiving notice that its license was revoked, he said. Taban said he planned to appeal directly to the chief justice, and the newspaper would file an appeal with Sudan's Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country.
Taban told CPJ that he is uncertain about the motive for the cancellation, but noted that the newspaper published a piece last month about violence at a displaced persons camp outside Khartoum. The story angered authorities because it countered the official version of events, and police confiscated the entire edition of the newspaper. Taban said police filed a complaint against the newspaper after the incident, but he had received no court summonses yet.