A Sudanese journalist has been detained for 100 days without charges or legal documentation, according to the Union of Sudanese Journalists, which issued an urgent statement calling for his immediate release.
Muammar Ibrahim was arrested by the Rapid Support Forces while leaving Al-Fasher and transferred to Nyala in South Darfur State, the union said in a statement released this week. He has been held without access to a lawyer or his family.
The union characterised the detention as “an organised crime against press freedom and society’s right to knowledge” and part of a systematic effort to silence independent journalism in Sudan.
“What Muammar Ibrahim is facing is a direct attack on fundamental human values,” the statement said, describing a policy aimed at intimidating journalists and turning them into “hostages in conflicts they have nothing to do with.”
The journalists’ union called Ibrahim’s continued detention “a serious escalation in the targeting of media in Sudan” and said it represents a violation of international treaties guaranteeing freedom of opinion, expression and the right to information.
The organisation is demanding Ibrahim’s immediate and unconditional release and calling on the international community, including the United Nations and press freedom organisations, to pressure authorities to end what it described as systematic violations against journalists.
The union also called for the Rapid Support Forces to be held responsible for Ibrahim’s safety and for accountability for those involved in what it termed kidnapping, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists.
“Journalists are not parties to the conflict, but they are the protectors of truth and the people’s right to knowledge,” the statement said, adding that continuing arrests and forced disappearances represent “an assault on all humanity.”
