Mahjoub Mohamed Salih

Mahjoub Mohamed Salih (born 1928/1929) is a journalist from Sudan, which the World Association of Newspapers calls "one of the most restrictive media environments on the African continent".^[1] He was awarded the 2005 Golden Pen of Freedom.

Biography

Salih became a journalist in 1949 after joining the Sudanese independence movement from Egypt.^[2] He founded the oldest independent newspaper in Sudan, Al Ayam, in 1958.^[1] Twice closed by the Sudanese government during the 1960s, it became a product of it in 1970.^[1] Salih did not publish it again until 1986.^[1] This was not the end of his troubles with the law, as it was again closed from 1989 to 2000.^[1]

In 2003, he began covering the War in Darfur.^[2] For this, his newspaper were stopped, punished,^[2] and from November 2003 to January 2004, closed down.^[1] However, Sudanese authorities claimed it was due to Al-Ayem's failure to pay their taxes.^[3] In any case, its journalists have be fined, and sensitive or controversial issues have been confiscated by Sudanese authorities.^[1] Salih personally has been incarcerated "numerous" times for publishing such issues.^[1]

He received Golden Pen of Freedom in 2005, during the opening ceremonies of the 58th World Newspaper Congress and the 12th World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the Earth's press.^[1] It has been awarded annually since 1961 for the stated purpose of "recognis[ing] outstanding action by an individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom."^[1] In attendance of the ceremony were the President of South Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun, several representatives from the diplomatic community, and over 1,300 journalists, publishers, and editors of newspapers in 82 countries.^[1]

In July 2005, Sudanese authorities suspended their censorship of the press.^[4] A new law was put into place requiring that they have to take the journalist to court, instead of immediately punishing them.^[4] Salih became the application of that law, after Al-Ayam published an article seen as demeaning to the armed forces.^[4]

References