Khartoum Press Council Investigates Two Journalists over Al-Bashir Article

16 March 2010 - (Khartoum) - The Sudan National Press Council is questioning two journalists from Ajras al-Hurriya and Rai al-Shaab newspapers for allegedly insulting the President of the Republic, Omar al-Bashir.

SRS spoke to one of the journalists, the editor of Ajras Al-Hurriya, Fayez Al-Sheik al-Silaik, who was summoned by the national press council.

Al-Sheik told SRS from Khartoum on Tuesday that the move by the Press Council is an attempt to impose censorship on the papers.

[Fayez Al-Sheik al-Silaik]: “The National Press Council thinks that the President of the Republic, according to the code of ethics, should not be criticized like the way we wrote in our article. We treated al-Bashir as a presidential candidate, and this is the election campaign. We were trying to convince them that al-Bashir is the same as any other candidate, and that they should not be biased. We had a long meeting, but we think this move is part of harassing the media, creating an undemocratic environment and it is tantamount to censoring the papers.”

The editor of Ajras Al-Hurriya newspaper, Fayez Al-Sheik al-Silaik, was speaking to SRS from Khartoum on Tuesday.