Cybercrime in Sudan

Muawad Mustafa Rashid

A year ago the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have circulated a statement to the local media which include Criminalizing journalists and social media activists if they insult or underestimate safe or publish any misinformation.

According to the statement, the punishments seemed to be very harsh as they may reach 20 years imprisonment. The statement said that procedures were launched against several journalists and social media activists who tried to tarnish the image of the SAF. This new development will make freedom of speech and freedom of expression at stake.

Cybercrime law identifies standards of acceptable behavior for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) users; establishes socio-legal sanctions for cybercrime; protects ICT users in general, and mitigates and/or prevents harm to people, data, systems, services, and infrastructure, in particular; protects human.

I believe that there is no absolute freedom through which we can violate others’ privacy, but the punishments must not be like an act of revenge considering that excessive measures will lead to more turmoil and chaos. Humans are natural rebels and resist any laws enforced without consultations.

In Sudan, we are still too far from imposing cybercrime laws due to the long absence of freedom which creates a hopeless situation; so in the post-revolution era, many people think it is a chance to express their opinion freely and in a democratic way.

For sure before stipulating laws we need charters of honor – or say code of ethics – to preserve every institution its rights and legal obligation.

Raising awareness and mutual respect should be before any laws or harsh punishments. We need to promote the culture of respecting each other; people respect their army; SAF respects the people and other state’s institutions. This is the only sure way to prevent the offense of cybercrime, and gradually punishments could be implemented without mercy for those who insist to commit such crimes intentionally.