Sudan activists call for investigation, photojournalist ‘targeted’ during March 14 protests

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) urged for a thorough and impartial inquiry to be conducted into the injuries sustained by photojournalist Ibrahim Abdelrahman during the March 14 protests, according to a report released yesterday.

During his coverage of the protest earlier this month, the photojournalist was reportedly shot in the chest by an Oblin, an improvised projectile weapon that shoots stone and glass. Abdelrahman states that he was targeted for covering the protest, saying that he saw “a police officer directing his colleague to shoot him”, due to him carrying a camera.

Despite being discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, the photojournalist reported he is suffering from chest congestion and difficulty breathing after sustaining his injury.

For his previous coverage in the last two years, Abdelrahman states that he has been tortured, arrested, and the target of constant harassment by the authorities.

The photojournalist recounted in the ACJPS report how he was apprehended by plain-clothed individuals while returning on his motorcycle from a pro-democracy demonstration in Omdurman on February 14th.

According to a statement made by the victim, he was blindfolded and transported in a Land Cruiser to a “torture centre” where he was subjected to physical assault by six individuals who undressed him, tied his hands and feet, and beat him. Following the alleged ordeal, he was blindfolded once more and abandoned on the main road in the Soba neighbourhood of Khartoum.

He also reportedly received “several threating messages” after publishing a photograph of an alleged Sudanese Armed Forces member, pointing a gun at peaceful protesters during an anti-junta rally in December 2021.

In a press statement by the ACJPS, they called for the investigation to be comprehensive, “with the aim of finding the perpetrators and holding them accountable”.

11 arrests, three women ‘verbally abused’

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) reported that 11 demonstrators, including three women, were arrested for their participation in the March 14 pro-democracy protests at the Sharwani bus station, near El Gasr Street in Khartoum.

Their report stated that the female protesters were taken by the Federal Police, where they were allegedly subjected to verbal abuse by police officers, calling them ‘prostitutes’. According to ACJPS, they were then transferred to the Khartoum North (Bahri) Police Station with the other 8 male detainees.

The group was then charged with “disturbance of public peace “and “public nuisance”, under Articles 69 and 77 of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code. However, they were later released on bond.