Crackdown on activists and journalists sparks outcry in Sudan

Activists from human rights groups and resistance committees told Radio Dabanga yesterday that arbitrary arrests and intimidation are surging across Sudan, from El Gezira to El Fasher, targeting volunteers, aid workers, lawyers and journalists.

In Wad Madani and El Managil, security forces have intensified detentions of civil society actors. Lawyer Noon Kashosh from the El Gezira Observatory for Human Rights warned of a return to “the repressive security state,” citing the repeated, charge-less arrest of volunteer Mohammed Azhari. “Anyone involved in humanitarian work is now a target,” she said.

Among those detained is Dr Mohamed Talab, a physician providing free medical services. Kashosh described the legal process as opaque and abusive, with detainees held without access to lawyers or the courts. 

She also criticised the recently reinstated Bar Association, dissolved under the former civilian-led government, for acting as a legal façade, offering symbolic representation while failing to uphold fair trial standards. “Their role is closer to a cover for repression than a defence,” she added.

She further warned of attempts to silence human rights lawyers, citing the ongoing trial of lawyer Montaser Abdallah in Port Sudan, despite his prior defence of detainees.

Kashosh called on international human rights bodies to intervene urgently. “These violations are escalating. They mark a dangerous rollback of rights and freedoms in Sudan.”

Resistance committees condemned the arrest of journalists Nasr Yagoub and Mohamed Ahmed Nizar by elements of the Sudan Liberation Movement, in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

According to Nizar, Yagoub was shot at by an officer affiliated with the movement after refusing to surrender a Starlink device in a market.

Though uninjured, Yagoub later filed a police report against the officer. Both journalists were subsequently detained and taken to a joint force base.

The Transitional Council denied wrongdoing, claiming Yagoub provoked the officer and accusing the journalists of spreading misinformation and undermining national security. The group described the incident as “media incitement from paid pens” and warned it would take legal action.

El Fasher’s Resistance Committees rejected the arrests as unlawful. “Arresting journalists under flimsy pretexts is a violation of the freedom of an entire society,” they said, demanding the journalists’ immediate release and warning against the use of security justifications to silence dissent.