Man detained in Sudan’s Blue Nile for Facebook post

On April 8, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s main government militia, detained an activist in Ed Damazin, capital of Blue Nile state, for two days because he criticised their commander on Facebook.

The Kampala-based Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported in a press statement today that a group of RSF soldiers held trader and social activist Idris El Bur (40) from his shop at the Grand Market of Ed Damazin last Thursday.

He was taken in an RSF detention cell in the Ashara Beyout neighbourhood in the state capital, where he was confined with nine RSF militiamen accused of breaching military regulations.

His detention was ordered by Maj Fayiz Balla, Commander of the RSF in Blue Nile state.

Elbur was questioned about a text he had posted on Facebook, in which he criticised the commander for not respecting the procedures during the RSF fuel distribution at one of the petrol stations in town.

The activist was warned not to post such articles again. He was released two days later.

El Bur is a member of the Executive Office of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) in Blue Nile state. Shortly after his detention, the FFC Coordination demanded his “immediate and unconditional release”.

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