Sudanese journalists stymied by "red lines" and raids

But veteran Sudanese journalists say there have never been so many "red lines" - invisible boundaries that the media crosses at its peril as there are today.

When journalist Faisal Mohamed Saleh criticised Bashir for calling rulers of archfoe South Sudan, "insects," state security arrived at his home, took him away and grilled him for hours about his interview.

 With no legal case, they let him go but ordered him to come back every morning for eleven days.

As Sudan faces trouble in its economy and conflict with neighbour and foe, South Sudan, material for news and reporting is abundant. But journalists say press freedoms are increasingly unclear and they are working under invisible boundaries that the media dares only cross at its peril.

KHARTOUM, SUDAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) - Life has never been easy for journalists in Sudan, a tightly controlled Arab African country ruled by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir since a 1989 coup. Sudan ranks 170th of 179th in a global press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog.

"What happened is that I was asked to comment on a news report on al-Jazeera TV channel on Thursday April 19. I'm used to such dealings with the TV channels like al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya, BBC and other Arabic channels as a commentator and political analyst. The report concerned Omar al-Bashir's speech in El-Obeid on that day. At that time there was fighting in Higleg. I listened to the news report and to the summary of the president's speech which I had also listened to that morning in some channels. I commented on the speech saying that the President had used words which were not appropriate," Saleh narrated.

As tensions with South Sudan escalate and an economic crisis bites, pressure is mounting on journalists to be "patriotic". The security services have suspended three newspapers this year after criticising the government, editors say. Several reporters have been banned from writing.

The security service could not be reached for comment. But experts say it has vast powers under a media code of conduct that requires journalists to defend Sudan's "interest, unity, survival and integrity".

Reporters in Sudan have long known that criticising the president or writing about official corruption could bring a beating, or jail. Official censorship ensured journalists knew exactly where the lines were.

But censorship was abolished in 2009. Even so, new topics that reporters should not touch come up all the time.

Journalists recently held protests against the harassment of Saleh outside the Press and Publications Council building in Khartoum.

"The press situation in Sudan is deteriorating tremendously and now the country is witnessing a fierce attack from the security authorities as they want to ban journalists from writing. They are suspending some dailies such as al-Tayar, Al- Maidan and al-Jareeda, besides banning 15 journalists from writing and practicing their activities," said Afaf Abu Kashawa, a journalist.

The government says press freedom is guaranteed in Sudan's constitution and that reporters face no problems if they comply with the law.

Rabie Abdelati is the spokesman for the information ministry said, "We see a lot of criticism of officials in the media. I do not think the officials are angered by this, but they closely looking at the opinions being expressed in the papers."

Critics say says the government is punishing independent newspapers by not allocating them ads.

Such allegations are hard to prove but large papers dominating the market such as al-Intibaha or al-Rai al-Amn, which tend to support government thinking, get most of the government advertising.

The media has already been battered by a fall in advertising revenue due to a national economic crisis and a scarcity of dollars after Sudan lost much of its oil production when South Sudan became independent a year ago.

Al-Sahafa, for example, has cut its weekday circulation to 25,000, down from 30,000 copies or more.

"Confiscation of newspapers causes economic pressure, confiscating the paper after it is printed represents a financial punishment, hence economic pressure," said al-Sahafa's editor in chief, al-Nour Ahmed al-nour.

Paper costs have doubled as Sudan has no local production. Printing paper needs to be imported from Dubai and India which has become very expensive because the value of the Sudanese pound has halved in the past 12 months.