On the 18th of July,2020, the Sudanese Army issued a statement announcing the appointment of a special comissioner who would look into legal action against activists and journalist who have “insulted” the military, both inside and outside Sudan. It stated, “The armed forces took this step after systematic insults and accusations crossed the bounds of patience. They are part of a plan targeting the country’s army and security system”. According to the Middle East Monitor, this was done as a response to activists and rights groups accusing the army of blocking investigation of the killings of various protestors dating back to June, 2019.
On legal grounds, the Human Rights Watch reported that the Army Spokesperson invoked the 2007 Cybercrimes Act, which criminalises the concept of “spread of false news” and publication of “indecent materials”. Along with this, the army also threatened to invoke the ‘Publication and Newspapers Act’ and the ‘1991 Criminal Act’, levying the charges of, “crimes against the state”.
To understand the very concept of Freedom of Press in any country or nation we need to examine the underlying principles it works on, namely the Freedom of Speech and Expression. Freedom of speech is a principle that brings to light the independance of an individual or a community to lay down their opinions and ideas without fear of legal sanctions, censorship or any form of retaliation. While, the Freedom of Expression being commonly associated to the Freedom of speech, is any act of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, without focusing on the medium used. These freedoms are best expressed my media houses and journalists and hence, the Press comes into light. However, following various recent events we see, that the very freedom of Press gets hampered in nations, causing a fall in the very nature of democracy itself.
As a response to the threat by the Sudanese Army, the General Secretary of The International Federation of Journalists, Anthony Bellanger expressed his views stating the given threat to be a “blanket” threat to the freedom of expression and also to the fundamental rights of the citizen to access information in Sudan. He also adds that this is an attempt to “silence” journalists and activities in Sudan.
Similar situations have also surfaced in various countries recently, namely Hungary and Russia. On the 22nd of July, Szabolcs Dull, the editor-in-chief of Index, Hungary’s biggest independent News website was fired from the company, this being expressed as a political association by the Human Rights Watch. Various people like Lydia Gall, senior researcher on Europe and Central Asia in the Human Rights Watch have expressed their concern with regards to the same, bringing to light the heavy influence of various businessmen close to the Prime Minister in such Media Houses. While in Russia, a policemen broke the arm of a journalist who was attemptiong to cover the vote on constitution ammendments last month.
With situations like this in today’s world, can we still say that Press enjoys the Freedom it deserves?
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