War in Darfur
In 2003, he began covering the War in Darfur. For this, his newspaper were stopped, punished, and from November 2003 to January 2004, closed down. However, Sudanese authorities claimed it was due to Al-Ayem's failure to pay their taxes. In any case, its journalists have been fined, and sensitive or controversial issues have been confiscated by Sudanese authorities. Salih personally has been incarcerated "numerous" times for publishing such issues.