Khartoum, May 31: Sudanese authorities have on Thursday shut down news broadcaster “Al-Jazeera” bureau in the capital, Khartoum, and also banned its journalists from covering reports from Sudan, the Qatar-based media organization said.
According to The Guardians news reports, the move comes as the Sudanese military officials said a protest encampment just outside the country’s defence ministry in Khartoum poses “a danger to the revolution” and further threatened the “coherence of the state and its national security”.
The Al-Jazeera station, who on a regular basis broadcasts Sudanese civilian demonstration, said, “The decision also includes the withdrawal of the work permits for the correspondents and personnel of the Al-Jazeera network starting from now.”
The channel said no written decision was penned down to the bureau’s director. It also said no reason for the bureau’s closer was provided.
In an official statement, Al-Jazeera said, “The network sees this as an attack on media freedom, professional journalism and the basic tenets of the right for people to know and understand the reality of what is happening in Sudan.”
The statement added, “The network deplores the decision and assures its audiences in Sudan and globally that it will continue its coverage of Sudan despite this political interference by the Sudanese authorities.”
Al-Jazeera’s Khartoum office director Al-Musallami Al-Kabbashi said the Sudanese authorities told them the military had decided to shut the organization network’s office as well as withdraw its licence. He said, “We gave them the material and the office.”
Meanwhile, Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) in a statement said the authorities would work in line with the law to guarantee citizen’s safety and resolve manifestations of lawlessness and insecurity.