2.3. Journalists and other media personnel

For background information, see section 2.1. of the EUAA Sudan report – Country Focus (April 2024). For additional information on media and communications, see section 1.3.2 of the Sudan: Security situation report.

Sources indicated that freedom of expression and opinion continue to be curtailed by the SAF and the RSF, with incidents against journalists including surveillance, monitoring, physical violence, threats, intimidation, warnings against publishing certain information or expressing certain views, armed takeovers of media buildings, and repeated network disruptions and shutdowns of the internet.283 The UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding indicated that Sudan experiences a 'systematic censorship' and suppression of information by both the SAF and the RSF, and that journalists are restricted from speaking to international media.284 The same source also indicated that journalists engage in self-censorship, particularly when reporting about corruption and the security agencies, and that the 'systematic targeting' of media companies has forced many outlets to shut down operations and leaving journalists without a source of income.285 The Dutch COI report quoted a confidential source commenting on issues that were the most sensitive for warring parties, as saying that: 

Intimidation of journalists takes place mostly to prevent them from reporting on the conflict or to pressure them to present a more favourable view of one side of the conflict.287 Targeting usually consists of raiding media stations and the homes of journalists, the damage or confiscation of equipment, mass detentions of journalists and station workers, and violent attacks against outlets.288 Female journalists face 'heightened risk',289 with some targeted with sexual violence to punish them for their profession, for being perceived as reporting on human rights violations, or for supporting the enemy.290 The UN FFM for the Sudan indicated that when female journalists have been targeted, perpetrators reportedly tell their victims that they knew about their activities and that they were looking for them specifically.291

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) indicated that, between 1 January and 4 December 2024, four journalists were killed, one detained, and one taken hostage.292 SJS documented 393 cases of 'direct violence' against journalists between April 2023 and April 2024, and also indicated that between January and April 2024, cases of targeted killings of journalists increased.293 On 2 November 2024, SJS provided the following statistics related to the targeting of journalists between April 2023 and November 2024:

• 13 journalists, including two women, were killed;
• 11 other journalists, including three women, were subjected to physical attacks and injured, in addition to one case of sexual assault;
• 30 journalists, including 10 women, were exposed to gunfire and shelling, which killed 15 of the journalists' relatives and severely damaged their homes;
• 60 journalists, including nine women, were kidnapped or forcefully detained;
• 56 threats were recorded, including against 26 female journalists; and
• 27 cases of physical assault and looting of property were recorded, including three against female journalists.294

Among the incidents of targeting of journalists, as reported by sources, are:

• On 30 September 2024, a freelance journalist working for several online news outlets was killed during clashes among armed actors in El Fasher, North Darfur.295
  On 23 August 2024, RSF armed men kidnapped a freelance journalist from his home in East Nile, Khartoum, and demanded a ransom of one million Sudanese pounds (400 USD). Upon payment, kidnappers demanded another million Sudanese pounds and threatened to kill him.296
• On 4 July 2024, a photojournalist was interrogated by military intelligence after returning from a reporting assignment covering the situation of displaced people from Sennar and Singa; officers erased all her photos and recordings before releasing her. In the previous months, the RSF had raided her house six times during which she was subjected to verbal abuse and attempted physical assault, and her relatives were harmed.297 
• On 18 May 2024, the editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Al-Ahram al-Youm was detained by RSF soldiers in his home in Khartoum and taken to an undisclosed location.298  
• On 1 March 2024, a local journalist and media director at the Sudanese Supreme Council for Media and Culture, and member of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, was killed in his home in El Fasher.299