Another journalist arrested in Khartoum

A journalist of the Al Sahafa daily newspaper and responsible for the Darfur file, Gafar Alsabki Ibrahim Abu (37) was arrested by the Sudanese National Security. He was taken from the newspaper’s premises on Wednesday afternoon. The paper’s editor in chief, Alnur Ahmed Alnur, confirmed the arrest to Radio Dabanga. He said Alsabki is an editor from the town of Um Kedada in Darfur. He said the newspaper does not know where the reporter has been taken, nor what the charges against him are.

It is the latest in a wave of arrests against Darfurian human rights activists, lawyers, reporters and students that started last Saturday. In total at least 12 people have been arrested and kept incommunicado. Amnesty International has sent an international alert for urgent action, stating that they are “at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.” The spokesman of the US State Department, Philip Crowley, said that the United States is deeply concerned by the reported arrests. Likewise, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Washington strongly condemns the arrests. “These arrests indicate an emerging pattern of harassment and intimidation by the government of Sudan against civil society,” she stated.

The following persons are known to have been arrested:

Men

Abdelrahman Adam Abdelrahman, (33, Ad Daien)

Abdelrahman Al Gasim, (45, Tulus)

Abu Gasim Moh. Ali Hamoda (30, Ad Daien)

Dirar Adam Dirar (29, Nyala)

Gafar ElSabki Ibrahim Abu (37, Um Kedada)

Khalid Ishaq Mohamed Yousif (Nyala)

Zakeria Yagoub (34, Khartoum)

Ibrahim Adam (23, Nyala)

Women

Aziza Ali idriss (26, Geneina)

Aisha Sharif Sardu (30, Al Fasher)

Kwather Omer (35)

Manal Mohamed Ahmed (27, Kutum)

Zam Zam (family name unknown)

Housna (family name unknown)