Sudanese journalists arrested in transit

Alfatih Abdullah of the privately-owned daily Al-Sudani, Qazafi Abdulmotalab of Al-Ayam, Abuobaida Awad of Rai-Alshaab and Abulgasim Farahna of Alwan were arrested as they were travelling in a privately-owned vehicle at about 11pm (local time) on 13 June.

They were on their way to the Kijbar dam construction site, where four people had been killed and at least 10 others wounded when police used violence to disperse a protest by members of the Nubian population opposed to the building of the dam. After being questioned about the purpose of their trip, the journalists were detained in a Dongola police station.

Apparently denied all contact with their newspapers, relatives or lawyers since their arrest, they have been transferred by the intelligence services to Khober prison in Khartoum.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the continuing detention of the four journalists, asking, "Does the Sudanese government think it can conceal embarrassing news by jailing journalists?

"Arresting people because of what they have seen, or could see, is shameful and absurd, and violates the undertakings given by the government. There are no grounds for holding these four reporters and they should be freed at once."

Published courtesy of RSF