Sudan: Journalism in Sudan, Now a Crime Punishable By Death

What the report says

Sudan’s military authorities have introduced a legal amendment that critics say could make routine journalism punishable as a capital crime. According to Ayin Network, the change was issued under Temporary Constitutional Decree No. 7 of 2026, signed by Transitional Sovereignty Council chair Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on October 19 and published in the official gazette to take immediate effect. The revision expands Article 51/A of the 1991 Criminal Code to include publication through electronic or media outlets under the offence of “inciting war against the state.”

The reported penalties are severe: confiscation of property, life imprisonment or execution. Human rights lawyer Rana Abdel Ghaffar Abdel Rahim told Ayin that the language of the decree turns media and digital communication into tools for committing a crime punishable by death. The Ministry of Justice has defended the measure as necessary for national security and to counter content seen as supportive of rebel groups, but the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate and human rights organisations rejected it as overly broad and dangerous for press freedom.

Ayin said the decree comes amid a wider wartime crackdown on reporting in Sudan, where journalists already face surveillance, shortages and restrictions. Media workers and legal experts warned that the new wording leaves no clear line between legitimate reporting and criminal incitement, potentially exposing reporters to prosecution for covering abuses, military setbacks or civilian suffering.

The syndicate called for the amendment’s repeal, the end of executive interference in media oversight and stronger judicial safeguards. The broader significance, as described in the report, is that Sudan’s conflict is increasingly being accompanied by tighter state control over information and a shrinking space for independent journalism.