Five journalists held at undisclosed locations and dozens more arrested and released, with media blackout expected to worsen

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The government of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan has launched an “alarming” crackdown on journalists covering weeks of protests against the regime.

At least five reporters have been detained by the national intelligence security services and are being held at undisclosed locations. Dozens of others have been arrested and held before being released.

Khartoum has also revoked the work permits of correspondents working for two Arab-language regional news networks preventing them from working in the country.

“We expect the blackout to get worse and more violations by the authorities against the media as the protests continue,” said Khalid Ahmed of the Sudanese Journalists’ Network.

The crackdown comes with Sudan’s embattled president due in Qatar on Wednesday to seek support in the face of protests at home against his 29-year rule.

Bashir will meet Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to discuss possible aid to Sudan, which is suffering from deep economic problems.

While Sudan has long had a poor reputation for freedom of media expression – the country is rank 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom – the latest crackdown is linked explicitly to protests against Bashir that broke out on 19 December.

The five detained have been named as Qureshi Awad and Kamal Karar of Al-Midan newspaper, Adil Ibrahim of El Jareeda and Ogeel Naaim of Almijhar al-Siyasi.

Speaking to the Guardian, Mazahir Ibrahim, Adil’s older sister, said she was concerned about her 39-year-old brother, who suffers from high blood pressure. She said authorities had refused to allow his family to supply him with his medication.

The authorities have issued warrants for the arrest of another 38 journalists – 28 of them based abroad – accused of “incitement and spreading fake news”, which carries a potential sentence of three years in jail.

Among those held and released was award-winning journalist Faisal Mohamed Salih, 62, who described security officers beating reporters.

“The first time I was arrested when I was taken from my office. The first interrogation was designed to send a message back,” he said. “They treated me as if I was a spokesman of the protests and wanted to say the protests will not topple down the regime because it’s strong.

“They acknowledged there were problems in the country but said demanding Bashir go is too big a demand.”

As well as those working for Sudanese media, journalists working for Arab-language news outlets of Al Arabyia television and the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network have been targeted.

In a statement earlier this week, Al-Jazeera said its Khartoum office had been informed that their journalists’ credentials were revoked. The network denounced the move as “arbitrary” and “lacking any credible justification”.

'Change in people's hearts': anti-Bashir protests put Sudan at a crossroads Read more

The moves follow the blocking of social media sites. Some newspapers have also been prevented from distributing copies. Printing was stopped at the El-Jareeda daily according to publisher Awad Awad.

“Whenever there are protests national intelligence security services [censors] take out more than 80% of the content of the paper. We refuse because our credibility is more important. So they prevent printing,” he said.

Noting over 90 violations of freedom of the press since the protests broke out, Arnaud Froger, of Reporters Without Borders, said: “We unreservedly condemn these new arrests, the latest escalation in the government’s harassment of media outlets and journalists who try to cover the ongoing events in their country.

“The policy of systematically confiscating newspapers and arbitrarily arresting reporters is reaching alarming levels. This persecution of journalists and clampdown on news coverage must stop.”