Akashma Online News

Sudanese security forces on Sunday confiscated all copies of an independent newspaper as the government continues a media crackdown.

The chief editor of al-Ahdath newspaper, Adil al-Baz, told reporters that no explanation was given when troops seized all copies as they came off the printer.

This is not the first time Sudan’s government has moved against the country’s media, despite a constitution that calls for a free press.

Several newspapers were ordered closed last month at the time the country was split and South Sudan became an independent nation.

Also last month, a Sudanese court sentenced a journalist to one month in prison for writing about the alleged rape of a political activist by Sudanese security forces. Another journalist who wrote about the incident received the same sentence earlier in July.

A senior U.N. official criticized those sentences, saying “rapists, not reporters, must face criminal charges.”

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