This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
Mobile internet services were restored in Sudan on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, following a court order.
The ruling generals had imposed a blockade on mobile internet services weeks earlier, in the wake of a brutal crackdown on protesters on June 3.
Armed men in military fatigues stormed a weeks-long protest camp outside army headquarters in Khartoum, killing dozens of demonstrators and wounding hundreds.
Days later, internet services on mobile phones and fixed land connections were cut across Sudan, with users saying it was done to prevent further mobilization of protesters.
Khartoum-based lawyer Abdelazim al-Hassan filed a case against the blockade, urging a court in the capital to order telecom company Zain to restore the internet services on his own mobile phone.
"I returned to court and said that numerous clients of Zain and other telecom companies were impacted due to the cut," lawyer Abdelazim al-Hassan told a news conference on Tuesday.
"Today, the court issued an order to Zain and to MTN and Sudani to restore their mobile internet services," he added, referring to three telecom companies.
Later on Tuesday, the internet services on MTN, Sudani, and Zain networks were restored, users said.
Several subscribers of MTN and Sudani contacted by AFP confirmed they were able to make voice and video calls through social media networks like the WhatsApp messaging platform.
"I'm still not happy because this should not have been done," said Marwa Abdelrahim, a lecturer at Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman.
"The government has no right to hold the country as hostage," she added.
