The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on Sudan to drop criminal charges against at least 10 journalists who have reported on the alleged rape and torture of a youth activist. “Rather than address the systematic failures that enable torture and rape, the Sudanese government has chosen to subject journalists who cover them to politicized legal proceedings,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem in a statement. “The problem is rape and torture in government custody and a political culture that tolerates such acts,” he added. Democracy youth activist Safiya Ishag was reportedly tortured and raped repeatedly in custody after being detained following her participation in a January 30 demonstration. In a March 8 article for pro-opposition daily Ajras al-Huriya entitled “Rape…under Sharia Law,” Omar al-Gerai, one of the journalists who have been targeted, delved into the details of Ishag's ordeal. The article also looked critically at the Sudanese justice system and the tens of thousands of detainees that have been subjected to it. The prosecutor of Sudan's Press and Publications Court informed al-Gerai and Ajras al-Huriya editor Abdullah Shaikh and their attorneys that they would be charged under the 1991 criminal code but failed to inform them of the specific charges, local media reported. On May 29, prosecutors charged al-Gerai and Shaikh with defamation in a Khartoum court; the trial was adjourned till June 21, Sudanese human rights activists told CPJ. Al-Gerai wasn't the only one charged. Several other journalists and editors-in-chief also face defamation charges in connection with articles about Ishag – and even a physician who has frequently written about torture and other forms of abuse that occur in police custody has been charged. According to CPJ, the charges against the ten journalists are very much in keeping with how Sudan reacts to critical media. BM
