Gai Thurbil

Media Repression in Sudan and South Sudan Gai Thurbil

Sudan has been named the worst country in the world's list of repressive states, where media run under the government control. The Sudanese government carries out continuous exercises of swoop and crackdown on journalists who practise journalism in the country. Some media practitioners cannot resist the government?s continuous repression any longer, which precludes freedom of expression, press and violates rights of individual citizens of Sudan and South Sudan who express their views through the media. The state authorities increased media repression when the country was preparing to hold general elections in 2010, which was also a prerequisite for South Sudan referendum for independence. This media repression was made worst by the indictment of President Omar Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Meanwhile, the authority in Khartoum employs the country's National Security personnel who carry out censorship in the newspapers' newsrooms in attempts to control media content. This active repression comes with a blend of harassments of journalists, editors, media owners and restriction of movements of journalists to deny them access to news events.