On Tuesday in Khartoum, Sudan, two Sudanese journalists were convicted on charges of slander and inaccurate editing after two years ago publishing a newspaper column which criticised "perks" approved for high-level government officials. The columnist, Zuhayr al-Sarraj, and editor, Noureddin Madani, must now pay fines or they will be gaoled for one year or six months respectively.
Al-Sarraj, the columnist, is still to face trial for a January 2006 article in which he reportedly criticised the President of Sudan for failing to address the problems of the Sudanese people. If found guilty, al-Sarraj may lose his licence to work as a journalist in Sudan.
According to Reporters Without Borders, official harassment of journalists in Sudan has escalated in recent months, despite the government's announcement last year that censorship had been lifted.
What is the government of Sudan trying to hide, and how long will it get away with it?
I don't understand the ability of such obvious tyrant regimes to stay in power and rule on. "Who benefits?" as my old sociology lecturer used to say. Ask the question and follow the answers and you'll end up at the source of the problem, or so the theory goes. So who benefits from what's happening in Darfur? Apart from those individuals in power and their hangers-on, who benefits? Who is helping these people stay where they are, and why?
I'm forming a hazy view that quite a lot of this is about grandiose notions of independence and sovereignty and other airy-fairy ideas which have not a lot to do with getting people fed and housed and functioning, which (in my opinion) should be much earlier priorities.
At an international level, there's an obvious lining-up of Arab loyalties at work (as there no doubt is with non-Arab loyalties elsewhere). Did you know that even as his people are dying of preventable causes in western Darfur, President al-Bashir committed $10 million in aid money to the Palestinian Prime Minister (money which in the end was not allowed to accompany Ismail Haniyeh back to the Gaza Strip)? Was al-Bashir being generous towards fellow humans in need (and if so, why not look closer to home?) or was he buying membership in the Arab club, and signalling his continuing opposition to those nations lined up on the other side of that never-ending Middle East fault line?
I don't know. Obviously. I'm just wondering. The world stands back and lets the Sudanese government do as it will, and I'm wondering why. Protocols? Alliances? International laws? Apathy? Greed? What's going on? In one sense it doesn't matter: if I was one of those people suffering in Darfur, I wouldn't give a shit what the reasons are, I'd just be praying for rescue.
Getting back to the point: journalists in Sudan are trying to get at the truth, presumably, so let's hope they can continue to do so. Press freedom matters. From the Committee to Protect Journalists:
Without a free press, few other human rights are attainable. A strong press freedom environment encourages the growth of a robust civil society, which leads to stable, sustainable democracies and healthy social, political, and economic development.
