Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate demands answers on five missing reporters

The Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate says five of its members remain victims of enforced disappearance, with their fate and whereabouts still unknown. It describes this as a serious violation of their basic rights, international law, and their right to life and personal safety. In a statement, the syndicate calls for the immediate disclosure of the journalists’ fate and whereabouts, and for a serious, independent investigation into the circumstances of their disappearance.

The five journalists are Ashraf El Habr, forcibly disappeared in Omdurman in November 2024; Mustafa Fadl El Mawla, known as Abu Gota, director-general of the Central Darfur Radio and Television Authority, who has been missing since 25 September 2025; journalist and photographer Magdy Youssef El Zein, forcibly disappeared in El Fasher in October 2025; journalist Mohamed Hussein Shalaby, forcibly disappeared in El Fasher in October 2025; and journalist Musab El Hadi, forcibly disappeared in October 2025, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The syndicate says it is deeply concerned that the cases have continued for months without reliable information about the fate of the five journalists, exposing them to grave risks to their physical and psychological wellbeing.

It warns that enforced disappearance during a war marked by widespread violence, hate speech and incitement, and the spread of misinformation increases the risks to those who have disappeared, creating an environment in which impunity and further abuses can flourish.

Enforced disappearance is not simply unlawful detention, the syndicate says. It is a complex violation that infringes a person’s right to liberty and security, deprives their family of knowledge of their fate and whereabouts, and places them outside the protection of the law.

The syndicate calls for the journalists’ immediate and unconditional release unless specific charges are brought against them under the law, with full guarantees of a fair trial. It also calls for their physical and psychological safety to be guaranteed, and for them to be allowed to contact their families and lawyers if they are being detained.

The syndicate further calls for families of the missing journalists to be allowed to learn their relatives’ fate and obtain information about their whereabouts. It holds those responsible for the arrests and enforced disappearances legally accountable, and calls for an end to impunity.

It urges the United Nations, and international and regional organisations concerned with human rights and press freedom, to act urgently, make every effort to establish the fate of the missing journalists, pressure the parties to the conflict to ensure their safety and release, and hold those responsible for abuses to account.

The syndicate stresses that journalists are not parties to the war, and that practising journalism or expressing an opinion cannot justify arrest, disappearance, or retaliation.

It says targeting journalists does not merely harm individuals. It also attacks society’s right to know, undermines press freedom, closes public space for the exchange of information and views, and makes it harder to establish the truth in one of the world’s most complex and costly wars in human terms.

The Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate appeals to all parties to the war to disclose the whereabouts of the missing journalists, allow their families access to them, and fulfil their legal and humanitarian responsibilities for their safety.

“Enforced disappearance does not end a person’s life in the records alone; it leaves their family and society as a whole trapped in waiting and fear. Every day that passes without revealing the fate of those who have disappeared increases the responsibility of those who possess the information and have the power to end this suffering,” the syndicate concludes.

Note: This report has been translated from Arabic with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools, and subsequently reviewed and adapted by a human editor before publication.