Sudan court orders company to end military-ordered internet blackout
SUDAN - A Sudanese court ordered telecoms operator Zain Sudan yesterday to restore internet services, a lawyer said, after they were severed nearly three weeks ago when security forces dispersed protesters camping in central Khartoum.
Sudan’s military rulers ordered the internet blackout as a security measure but it is harming the economy and humanitarian operations in the African nation of 40 million. The protesters are demanding the military hand power to a civilian authority. Abdel-Adheem Hassan, a lawyer who filed his own case against Zain Sudan over the blackout, told Reuters the Khartoum District Court had ordered Zain to “immediately restore internet services to the country”. Sudanese courts do not confirm or deny their rulings to the media. Zain Sudan, a subsidiary of Zain Kuwait and the largest operator in Sudan, was not immediately able to comment on the matter yesterday. Hassan said a Zain representative had told the court in response to the petition that the company had been ordered verbally by “high authorities” to cut the internet. A source at Zain told Reuters that the telecoms regulator had ordered the internet outage
Advertentie and demanded that they be added as a party to the case in an appeal. Sudanese officials could not be reached for comment and it was unclear what impact yesterday’s court order would have. Authorities also restricted access to popular social media sites during 16 weeks of protests against veteran leader Omar al-Bashir earlier this year. Bashir was finally ousted on April 11. (Reuters)