Security raids NGO in Sudan’s capital, detains journalist

Members of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) raided the premises of the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor in Khartoum today. One journalist was detained.

A group of seven security agents stormed the premises of the NGO in the Khartoum II district around noon on Sunday, where a training workshop on reporting on human rights violations was taking place.

The participants were ordered to stay and close their mobiles, while the offices were being searched. Two office computers, as well as a large number of human rights documents were confiscated. The security officers also investigated personal laptops of the people working for the organisation and the participants of the training workshop. Four laptops were taken too, the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor (SHRM) reported in a press statement, released later on the day.

“Most of the participants were civil society activists and journalists,” an activist working for the organisation explained to Radio Dabanga. “They took journalist Mohamed El Fateh, nicknamed Mohamed Nyala, with them to one of the security offices, without giving a reason. After being questioned, he was released again. Yet, they kept his laptop and mobile phone, and told him to return at 9 am tomorrow.”

In a press release issued today, the Sudanese Journalists Network (SJN) condemned in the strongest terms the detention of Mohamed El Fateh, correspondent for the communist El Midan newspaper, and SJN member.

“The ongoing detentions of opposition leaders and the continued summoning of journalists to the security offices these days” and “the detention of colleague Nyala affirm what the SJN has repeatedly noted before in its statements and protest actions: that the failure to find political solutions has pushed the regime to resort to security measures,” the Network stated.

Picture: Logo of Sudanese Human Rights Monitor (SHRM)