KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan authorities confiscated all copies of the independent al-Sudani newspaper on Saturday, the latest move in a resurgence of censorship since the beheading of a journalist last week.
Mohamed Taha, editor of al-Wifaq newspaper was seized from his home and his decapitated body dumped in a dirt street on Wednesday.
Since then, censors have moved into newspapers to restrict the work of journalists, ending months of press freedom in Sudan.
One state security source told Reuters the measures were not a return to censorship but aimed at preventing the publication of articles that would compromise the investigation into Taha's death.
"The deceased was a journalist," he said. "His colleagues will write emotional things that could affect the investigation."
Osman Merghani, a columnist at al-Sudani, said authorities had confiscated all the copies of the paper from the printing press, waiting until they had been printed.
"They did not tell us which article they did not like, they just said all the articles are inappropriate," he added.
Since the signing of a north-south peace deal in January 2005, a new constitution was drawn up enshrining press freedom. Authorities had largely respected that until Taha's death.
"The government wants to go back to the previous stage before signing the peace deal. They want to have full control and avoid giving the press full freedom," Merghani said.
Opposition al-Rai al-Shaab paper said they had been heavily censored and an entire page taken from their paper.
Mostly independent Arabic-language newspapers have suffered but the English-language The Citizen said they had been told to remove certain articles but had refused.
Newspapers make little money in Sudan and confiscating a paper after being printed hits owners hard in the pocket.
