Dr. Mohi-din Tetawi told Miraya FM the reasons behind the suspension of the two daily English newspapers; he said that The Citizen and Sudan Tribune newspapers were suspended due to their violation of their license conditions, by publishing in Khartoum while the editors in chiefs are in Juba.

He said the National Council for Press and Publications summoned three Arabic and three English papers, Sudan Tribune, the Citizen and Khartoum Monitor because of division of Sudan and the issue of racism.

All the newspapers attended the meeting except The Citizen and Sudan Tribune. The council sent warning letters to editors, but they did not respond to the council, so the council conducted a visit to the premises of the two daily papers in order to inspect the situation, but there were no people responsible for the management.

Telling about the reasons behind the suspension of the newspapers in 2008 he said:

The Sudan is at war, and the suspension of the daily papers in most cases related to the security monitoring and precautions. The council has the right to suspend the daily papers not more than 7 days.  Some times the suspension of the daily papers is related to the security authorities and not to the National Council of the Press and Publication.

List of suspension and closure of newspapers during 2008:

On 17 June 2008, the National Council for Press and Publications had withdrawn the licenses of three political newspapers for violating their license conditions.  The council asked the managements of Al-Hayat, Al-Adwa and Al-Khabar newspapers and the concerned authorities to pay its journalists and employees before closing the newspapers.

On 16 May 2008, the head of the Sudanese Journalists Union, Dr. Mohi-din Tetawi, told Miraya FM that the Union demanded the Ministry of Justice to intervene in the issue of Alwan Newspaper which had been stopped from publication by the Security Authorities. Dr. Tetawi said that the closure of the newspaper and confiscation of its properties by the Security Authorities has affected the journalists and the owners of the paper. The Security Authorities accused the paper of exposing military secrets. It said that publishing military secrets violates the National Security Law of 1999.

The Editors-in-Chief of various Sudanese newspapers reiterated their rejection of censorship on the daily papers by the Security and Intelligence Agency.

The Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ajaras Al-Huria, Dr. Murtada Al-Ghali, told Miraya FM that the Editors are looking for ways to stop the censorship on papers which are violating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the National Interim Constitution.