The Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) strongly condemns the continued harassment of senior Sudanese journalist and commentator Faisal Mohamed Saleh by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
It furthermore urges the Sudanese authorities to grant Saleh access to his lawyer and to immediately seize all proceedings.
“Questioning of Saleh has been ongoing for well over two weeks now, with no signs of any legal case being made against him”, Jan Keulen, DCMF director said. “It is unlawful and cannot be condemned too strongly. It is evident that this continues harassment is not leading anywhere other than to prevent Saleh from doing his work as a journalist. As such, it is a blatant violation of article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.”
Saleh has been summoned in for daily questioning since April 24, when he made critical comments on President Omar al-Bashir regarding the relationship between Sudan and South Sudan in an Al Jazeera interview. Saleh was also pushed during questioning to sign a statement that he would refrain from speaking to any Arab and foreign media, but he refused to do so.
The DCMD also strongly condemns any form of speaking bans for journalists, commentators or citizens of Sudan. Freedom of expression can by no means be limited a priori, so without any court ruling. Any efforts to that extent, including urging people to sign ‘voluntary’ limitations to that freedom are to be considered unlawful by international standards.
Detailed information can be obtained in Arabic through this link: http://www.dc4mf.org/ar/node/1656
