By Ebi Kesiena
Sudanese security forces have arrested the Bureau Chief of Qatari-based Al Jazeera TV network, the media outlet said on Sunday, a day after the latest crackdown on anti-coup protesters left at least six dead.
“Security forces raided the house of Al-Musalami al-Kabbashi, the Al Jazeera Bureau Chief in Sudan, and detained him,” the network said on Twitter without elaborating.
Al Jazeera has given prominent coverage to demonstrations against the October 25 coup, but last week, it also aired a detailed interview with top General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, one of only two he has granted.
Demonstrations against Sudan’s latest coup, including by tens of thousands of people nationwide on Saturday, have occurred regularly despite a rigorous internet outage.
Protesters are voicing their preference for civilian rule, the transition to which was interrupted when Burhan declared a state of emergency, detained the civilian leadership and ousted the government which was installed after the April 2019 ouster of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.
Burhan led a military council which, the month after Bashir’s removal, ordered Al Jazeera’s office closed, the network said at the time. It was allowed to reopen in August that year after authorities reached agreement on the now-disrupted transition to civilian rule.
