SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Global Voices - As Sudan transitions to democracy, urgent reforms must tackle disinformation, by Mohammed Suliman
Mohammed Suliman calls for Sudan’s transitional government to enact urgent legal reforms to tackle al-Bashir regime’s legacy of disinformation tactics and limits to freedom of expression, warning that delaying such reforms may jeopardise the democratic transition.
Suliman cites the August 2019 conviction of journalist Suhair Abdelraheem for “writing a sarcastic article about the Sudanese police,” to draw attention to legal provisions passed to curb “fake news” feature vague terms that can be deployed to silence critics and journalists.
Thus, Suliman calls for the transitional government to repeal laws that allow authorities to imprison those on charges of publishing false news. He also calls for better conditions to promote press freedom, improve transparency and to make it easier for journalists and citizens to submit Freedom of Information requests.