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The Sudanese Intellectual Property Court on Monday exonerated journalist Khalid Ahmed of accusations of harming the morale of the armed forces and denigrating its leaders.
"We journalists have a long battle for press freedoms in Sudan," Ahmed told Anadolu Agency.
He declined to talk about the case so that he would not "be taken back to the court because of this."
The Sudanese Army Forces (SAF) had filed a legal case against Ahmed, a reporter working for Al-Sudani Arabic daily, on allegations that he published false information and that he "harmed" the morale of the armed forces and "denigrated" its leaders while reporting on clashes in South Kordofan in June 2013 between the SAF and rebel forces.
The court acquitted the defendant and dismissed the case for lack of sufficient evidence.
Kamal al-Gizouli, the defense lawyer, said the accusations were not based on Ahmed's original printed story, but rather on a copy published on several Sudanese websites that detailed events that had occurred during a visit by top military officials to South Kordofan.
The reproduced report mentioned that the rebels had attacked the convoy of the SAF's leader and injured several soldiers.
Al-Gizouli, the secretary-general of the Sudanese Writers Union, was able to prove that Ahmed's e-mail –from which the faked report was sent out – had been hacked and that the reporter was no longer able to use it.
"The ruling should be published so that it could help other judges, lawyers and counselors on similar cases," the lawyer told AA.
The Sudanese Journalists Network lauded the verdict as a victory to journalists against harassment and the restrictions imposed on them by the authorities.
The latest Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index ranked Sudan at 170th place out of a total of 179 countries in terms of press freedom.
Ironically, Monday's edition of Al-Sudani was confiscated by the authorities.
By Ayman Elias Ibrahim
englishnews@aa.com.tr - Hartum
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