KHARTOUM, March 13 (Reuters) - Sudanese security services confiscated the Tuesday edition of the country's Communist party newspaper, accusing it of ignoring a warning to avoid writing about the killing of a girl by police that sparked several protests, its editor said.
Sudan's constitution guarantees press freedom but journalists have complained of increasing pressure from the government, particularly since the politically sensitive secession of South Sudan in July.
Security services have suspended three newspapers critical of the government since the start of the year, according to editors. One of it has resumed production since then.
Agents came to the al-Midan newspaper's Khartoum printing house late on Monday to confiscate the entire Tuesday edition, editor-in-chief Madiha Abdallah told Reuters.
Hours earlier, the security services had called the Communist party's mouthpiece and asked it not to run an article about the killing of a girl by a police patrol in Khartoum last week, she said.
"We told them we cannot do this. We want written instructions," Abdallah said.
A government source confirmed the edition had been seized, without elaborating.
Police had said the girl was killed accidentally when a patrol fired into the air after a crowd attacked it, but the incident sparked several small protests. An angry crowd tried storming a police station a day after the killing.
Sudan has avoided a popular uprising like Syria or Egypt but public anger over high food inflation has led to small protests in Khartoum and other cities.
Sudanese journalists say they face pressure when reporting sensitive issues such as corruption or the country's economic crisis.
The day before South Sudan declared independence, Khartoum suspended six newspapers because southerners were among their publishers or owners. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)
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