Sudan group calls for protecting journalists after 17 sacked

The Sudanese Journalists Network on Monday called for the protection of journalists following the dismissal of 17 members of Al-Jareeda, a private newspaper.

The network said in a statement that this is the first incident of its kind to occur after Sudan’s popular revolution succeeded in overthrowing President Omar Al-Bashir ending almost three decades of his rule.

The publisher and owner of Al-Jareeda sacked 14 journalists, one director, and two proof readers, the network added.

“Their crime was that they asked for their right to a dignified life.”

READ: Sudan’s ex-president Bashir charged with corruption, holding illicit foreign currency

The network called for the protection of journalists in all newspapers across the country in the face of such arbitrary decisions.

Ali Al-Dali, one of the dismissed journalists, told the Anadolu Agency that the newspaper’s administration dismissed three of his colleagues under the pretext of “low performance”, which prompted journalists to go on strike to demand the return of their colleagues and an improvement in their wages and working conditions. As a result, 17 employees were dismissed, Anadolu added.

A source in the newspaper, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the journalists “went on a strike that harmed the paper’s work so they were dismissed in line with the law.”

“The newspaper will give the dismissed journalists all their financial dues,” the source added.

READ: Sudan achieves a miracle and disappoints sceptics

According to Anadolu, there are 37 newspapers in Sudan, 80 per cent of which are distributed in the capital Khartoum. In 2018, around 36 million copies of these newspapers were sold, a decrease from 2017 when 59 million copies were sold, according to the state-run National Council for Press and Journalistic Publication.

Out of the 180 countries, Sudan ranked 174th in in the Press Freedom Index of 2018.