Journalists Union: Rapid Support Forces Arrest 2 Journalists, Army Detains Another
moatinoon
The Sudanese Journalists Union announced that the Rapid Support Forces have arrested journalist Haitham Dafallah, the editor-in-chief of Al-Midan newspaper.
This marks the third statement regarding arrests or detentions within three days, as the Rapid Support Forces also arrested union council member Professor Aqeel Ahmed Naem. Simultaneously, the Intelligence of the Fourth Infantry Division of the Sudanese Army detained journalist Yasser Jabara for four days.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the union stated that the Rapid Support Forces arrested journalist Haitham Dafallah, the editor-in-chief of Al-Midan newspaper, from his home in Al Jazeeraif West, near 60th Street, accompanied by his brother Omar. According to our sources, the force returned at eleven in the evening, citing a search of the place and confiscation of mobile phones in the house.
In a separate statement on Friday, the union announced that the Rapid Support Forces took union council member Professor Aqeel Ahmed Naem on Thursday, January 18, 2024, from his home in Al Geili suburb north of Khartoum Bahri to an unknown location. In another incident reported on Wednesday, the Intelligence of the Fourth Infantry Division in Damazin detained journalist Yasser Jabara for four days in extremely poor conditions inside a shipping container due to his journalistic identity. His phone and money were seized, and he was threatened with arrest upon his presence in the Blue Nile region.
The union recalled that journalist Abdelrahman Warab from the Sudan News Agency is still in detention by the Rapid Support Forces since September last year, and his family has been unable to communicate with him or know the location of his detention.
The union condemned the repressive practices by the Rapid Support Forces, calling on their leadership to control their members and refrain from arresting journalists, violating their freedoms, intimidating their families. It also condemned arbitrary arrests of journalists and the harassment they face at checkpoints by both conflicting parties, especially by army forces accustomed to criminalizing journalists. Journalists complain about unjustified hostility towards them at checkpoints, urging their release and the necessity of protecting human rights and avoiding endangering civilians.
The union stated that Sudanese journalists have been living in difficult conditions since the outbreak of war in Sudan, facing threats to their lives, constraints on their work, harassment during their duties, and the loss of many jobs and destruction of their media institutions. This requires joint efforts to address these problems.
It appealed to all media and human rights organizations working on press freedom to play their role and pressure the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces to prevent the arrest and intimidation of journalists, condemn all forms of enforced disappearances, and violations against practitioners of the fourth estate. It emphasized that allowing impunity and the continuation of a series of violations against journalists and citizens by the Rapid Support Forces encourages them to commit more crimes.
