Sudan lifts print bans on four newspapers after they apologise

Khartoum: Sudanese authorities lifted suspensions on four newspapers, including the nation’s bestseller, after they apologised for publishing information “harmful to society,” the country’s journalists’ union said.

The security services “accepted the appeals submitted by the Sudanese press council and the journalists’ union to reinstate the papers”, Mohammad Abdelgadir, head of the group’s freedoms committee, said on Friday by text messages.

Al Intibaha newspaper, which has Sudan’s highest circulation, as well as Al Jareeda, Akher Lahza and Al Khartoum were banned in late May after printing news about alleged sexual harassment in Sudanese schools. Sudan is ranked 174 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index.