According to media reports, 60 TV employees, 19 radio workers and 5 broadcasting journalists received their dismissal letters by Sudan’s Empowerment Removal Committee on 10 December. Many of them claimed that the decision had no basis and that they were given no opportunity to defend themselves.
Some journalists told the media they would appeal the decision.
This is not the first time media workers in Sudan are dismissed. On 31 August, 105 journalists of Tayba media group lost their jobs following a decision of the government-appointed administrator. The decision came eight months after the Disempowerment Committee had decided to shut down Tayba channel and radio station and seized its headquarters.
SJU said: “The dismissal is in line with the repressive practices of the anti-corruption committee on press freedom, which takes the form of constant prosecution of journalists. We are also astonished by the silence of the Minister of Culture and Information and the Directorate of the Radio and Television Authority about this new attack against journalists. We call on the IFJ and international and regional federations and all organizations active in freedom and human rights to support and defend the dismissed journalists and to put pressure on the Sudanese authorities to put an end to these decisions”.
IFJ Secretary General, Anthony Bellanger, said: “It is unfair to label journalists as political partisans in order to fire them without any evidence of bias while denying them due process to defend their professional independence. We support SJU and our colleagues in calling for all fired journalists to be reintegrated. We warn the sudanese government against any attempt to undermine press freedom and intimidate journalists.”