Sudan Deports 2nd Foreign Journalist in A Month
Khartoum, Mar 3 – Sudan has deported a Tunisian journalist for breaking immigration laws and engaging in “activities not covered by his mandate”, the second foreign journalist deported in less than a month.
On Monday a spokesman for Sudan’s security services said Zuhair Latif was put on a flight to Britain on Sunday night.
“Due to his violation of (immigration laws)… the relevant authorities deported him,” the spokesman said.
Sudan said on Saturday that Latif had entered Sudan legally but subsequently violated immigration regulations but declined to give details.
A spokesman from the British embassy said Latif was not a British citizen. The Sudanese spokesman, however, asserted Latif was “British of Tunisian origin.”
The Sudanese Sudan Tribune said Latif works for France 24’s Arabic-language service and for the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
Sudan expelled a Canadian-Egyptian reporter in February for reporting on the country’s Darfur crisis and arms industry.
Freedom of the press is guaranteed in Sudan’s constitution. However, local journalists regularly complain of censorship, the detention of reporters and the seizure of newspaper print runs.
(source ANTARA/Reuters)
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