Violations against journalists in Sudan war

KHARTOUM – June 6, 2023

The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) documented more than 40 violations against journalists and press organisations between May 15 to 31. The violations include enforced disappearances, abductions, and raids on homes and premises.

In a report released yesterday, the syndicate said that five journalists have been held by the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum. Another four journalists were threatened, three of them in Darfur.

On May 16, Al Jazeera reported that six people have been told that they will be hurt or killed if they continue reporting abuses in Sudan.

Six journalists were injured during clashes, of which four were in Nyala, South Darfur.

Three media and press offices were raided or occupied and so were the homes of more than ten journalists.

The SJN also reported and denounced the detention of journalist Nader Shalkawi and the storming of the Madarek Publishing House by the RSF in end May.

It is not just in those two last weeks of May that journalists and press offices have been targeted. Earlier in May, the RSF raided the office of El Hirak El Siyasi newspaper in Khartoum and a Sudanese photojournalist was shot in the back.

Following its elections last year, the SJS said that the press and media in Sudan have faced unprecedented targeting since the October 2021 coup.

The SJS again condemned the targeting of civilians in general and of journalists in particular and warned of the dire effects of destroying the cultural and media heritage of the Sudanese.

The SJN condemned the RSF’s occupation of the National Museum and called on UNESCO to take urgent action.