Until when NISS!

Journalist Faisal M. Salih, Photo credit to the writer.                                          

“Until when” is the slogan of the Arab Traffic Week for this year, and has nothing to do with my article of today! However, it came into my mind while reading through two news stories related to the press freedom in the country. The first story says that the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) has arrested the journalist Faisal Mohamed Salih after being harassed for weeks over comments he made on fighting in the country’s border state of South Kordofan.

The other story relays that NISS confiscated the entire print run of Almidan newspaper yesterday. According to a press release issued by the paper; Almidan has been confiscated for four times during the last eight days.

In a letter he wrote to the social websites, Salih said that NISS required him to report to their office every day for interviews. He said he balked when some of the scheduled interrogations never took place. 

Prior to the arrest which took place at his home in Khartoum, Salih spent almost three weeks complying with NISS orders to report daily to their office near Shendi bus station in Khartoum North.

When Salih decided not to go to the NISS office, he was arrested on Tuesday by NISS and was released the same day evening with security agents telling him he has to return on Wednesday morning, following the same pattern that he has been ordered to follow for the past few weeks, news reports said.

In the past, NISS has censored publications in advance by dispatching its agents to the newsrooms, but are now resorting to a new strategy in which they confiscate publications after they are printed, thus forcing newspapers to incur heavy financial losses.

Returning to my title above, I would like to pose the question:  how long will NISS continue practicing such illegal and unconstitutional acts? Why doesn't refer cases it deems harmful to nation security to the press attorney of the Press and Publications Council?

Another important question is: what is the role of the Press and Publications Council regarding such violations to the freedom of the press?   

Security authorities are now known for targeting press freedom through a number of tactics, including confiscating whole editions of newspapers after they have been printed and instigation of legal proceedings against journalists as well as banning individual journalists from writing and it sometimes orders editors-in-chief via sms text messages not to report on certain events in the next day’s edition.

This matter is now seriously curtailing freedom of expression. We therefore demand the press council to revise its position in view of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the interim constitution and to intervene to stop such violations which are against the basic principles of human rights and the internationally recognized standards of freedom of expression.

We also call on all journalists to stand against the attempts to quash a free press and rightly inform people about what is happening in the country.