Human Rights Watch deplores the recent crackdowns on press freedom in Sudan. In the past week, following the government’s withdrawal from peace talks in Nairobi with rebel forces, the governmental National Press Council has confiscated newspapers for publishing allegedly subversive articles and security forces have detained, harassed, and interrogated newspaper editors and journalists.

On the morning of September 4, government authorities reportedly confiscated the Wednesday editions of the Khartoum Monitor and Al-Horiyah after the two newspapers printed articles critical of the government decision to pull out of internationally-sponsored peace negotiations with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Government security forces summoned several editors of Al-Horiyah and the Monitor for interrogation, reportedly accusing them of disloyalty to the government and to the national unity of Sudan. According to the editors, these officers cited articles on the pullout from talks and a Monitor piece on Abyei as the offending pieces. The Monitor piece on Abyei reflected Dinka residents’ views that Abyei should be part of southern Sudan. The government has designated Abyei as part of northern Sudan although historically it is the town of the Ngok Dinka.

The following day security forces reportedly confiscated 1,800 issues of another daily newspaper, Al Sahafa. This daily also had criticized the government’s decision to withdraw from the peace talks.

Human Rights Watch deplores these confiscations and the arbitrary detention of Osman Mergani, a journalist with the Khartoum newspaper Al-ray Al-aam. On September 3, security officers arrested Mergani shortly after he appeared on Al Jazeera international television where he criticized the Sudan government for its pullout from peace negotiations with the SPLA. Mergani was held and interrogated for two days and released on September 5.

The government of Sudan reportedly has restricted these newspapers’ freedom of expression on a number of occasions during the past several months. In March 2002, the government fined Al-Horiya’s chief editor, Saad Al din Ibrahim, and Salah Salim, the paper’s caricaturist, 8 million Sudanese dinars (U.S. $30,923.85) for criticizing the government’s tax service. And in July 2002, the government restricted the freedom of expression of both newspapers, confiscating pages from a July 13, 2002 edition of Al-Horiya and fining Alfred Taban, chief editor of the Monitor, 500,000 Sudanese dinars (U.S. $1,932.74) after he wrote an article about human rights violations against southern Sudanese in the eastern city of Kassala.

Women’s rights also appear to be under fire. On August 24, the official National Press Council suspended for one day the publication of another Khartoum newspaper, Al Ayam, after it published a piece on female genital mutilation reportedly still practiced in Sudan although illegal. It is not possible to understand why this issue of Al Ayam should be suspended in view of the government’s official position against female genital mutilation. On September 1, 2002, security forces detained an activist, Ms. Rehab Abdel Bagi Mohamed Ali, at the Khartoum airport as she returned from a month-long vacation in Eritrea. They also detained her relative who was there to meet her, Mr. Farid Abbas. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that the recent trend of increased coercive activity – harassment of editors, detention of journalists, fines, and confiscation of newspapers, and detention of women’s activists – represents a sharp decline in respect for human rights guaranteed in international and Sudanese law.

We urge you to end the government crackdown on the press and women’s rights in Sudan and to guarantee freedom of expression and fair trial rights in accordance with Sudanese law and international standards.

Sincerely,