Sudan bans 3 more dailies reporting on general strike

Sudanese authorities have banned three more newspapers on Tuesday, seizing all copies ahead of distribution as a general strike against fuel subsidy cuts and price hikes continued for the third day.

The independent dailies banned include the Al-Ayam, Sudan's oldest newspaper, as well as Al-Tayar and Al-Youm al-Tali. The move brings to four the number of newspapers banned since Monday, when authorities shuttered the daily Al-Jareeda. The privately-owned Omdurman TV network was also closed Monday.

Al-Tayar's editor in chief, Osman Mirghani, said that security agents came to the daily's printing press at the break of dawn to collect all issues before they were distributed.

The authorities offered no explanation for the raid but Mirghani told The Associated Press "we suspect our coverage of the civil disobedience was the reason".