Showing posts with label threats against journalists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label threats against journalists. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Sudan: Kidnappings, looting of newsrooms. Protection of journalists must be a priority.

THIS helps explain why so little hard news is coming out of Sudan: these two Dec 27 posts at X by Isma'il Kushkush @ikushkush@ of Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) aka RWB or (unfortunately) RSF. 

One of the posts says: "Journalists in Sudan report that, in the past eight months, 26 print newspapers have stopped publishing and ten national radio stations have stopped broadcasting. Seven local radio stations have also closed and only two are still broadcasting, albeit but randomly".

The other says: "Kidnappings, looting of newsrooms, the right to information is flouted & media professionals are trapped in the civil war that broke out 8 months ago. RSF reminds the parties to the conflict that the protection of journalists must be a priority".  Below is RWB's Dec 26 report.
Note, Reporters Without Borders (RWB; French: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. -Wikipedia
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Report from and by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) at rsf.org

Dated Tuesday, 26 December 2023 - here is a copy in full:


Journalists still trapped in Sudan’s civil war


As Sudan’s journalists continue to be trapped in an eight-month-old civil war, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reminds the two parties to the conflict, the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, that they could be held criminally responsible if journalists are killed or injured, and that protecting media personnel must be a priority.


Recent media victims include Amar Dhaw, a reporter for the Sudan 24 TV channel and the Saqia Press website, who was attacked and beaten by a policeman in the eastern province of Al Qadarif, at the start of December, just for filming a police car for the report he was working on, according to information gathered by RSF.


During the same period, the paramilitaries kidnapped two journalists. Sudan News Agency reporter Mohamed Abderrahim was abducted outside his home in the capital, Khartoum, on 3 December, according to the information obtained by RSF, while Bahaeddine Abou Kassem, a journalist with the daily newspaper Akhbar Al Yawm, was also kidnapped in early December, his sister reported to his colleagues, as the Sudanese Journalists’ Union said. There has been no news of either since then.


Media outlets and journalists have been subjected to serious and repeated attacks since fighting first broke out on 15 April between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.


“The parties to this war must be reminded that they could be held criminally responsible in the event of attacks on the physical integrity of journalists, who are protected by international law in conflict situations. Journalists must under no circumstances be targeted, or arrested or detained for doing their job. The perpetrators will be held accountable for their misdeeds.

Khaled Drareni

RSF’s North Africa representative


The persecution of media and journalists is surging as a result of the rivalry between regular army Gen. – and de facto leader – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has his headquarters in Port Sudan and controls the territories east of the Nile, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as “Hemetti,” the leader of the paramilitaries, who is based in Khartoum and controls several major cities in Darfur and the west of the country.


“Even crossing the street and just going out then returning to the newspaper has become an obstacle course,” Amr Chabane, the editor of the Khartoum-based newspaper Al Sudani told RSF. “We’re located in a dangerous area that has seen many clashes and shoot-outs.” 


Looted media 


The headquarters of Sudan’s General Authority for Radio and Television, which is located in the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, was turned into a detention centre a few weeks ago, the Sudanese Journalists’ Union says, condemning “this irresponsible behaviour which exposes the country’s history heritage to destruction and disappearance.”


The union also reports that equipment is being looted from public radio and TV stations and is being sold on the city’s sidewalks. The Blue Nile TV channel has suffered the same fate. All of its equipment has been stolen and placed on sale in Omdurman’s Libya market.


Three other prominent media outlets, the Sudan 24 and Al Balad TV channels and the BBC’s Khartoum bureau, have also been vandalised and looted, according to the Sudanese Journalists’ Union, which called on all regional and international press freedom organisations to denounce what is happening, and work to stop it.


Journalists in Sudan report that, in the past eight months, 26 print newspapers have stopped publishing and ten national radio stations have stopped broadcasting. Seven local radio stations have also closed and only two are still broadcasting, albeit but randomly.


View original: https://rsf.org/en/journalists-still-trapped-sudan-s-civil-war


ENDS

Monday, May 22, 2023

Sudan Journalists Syndicate demands RSF leaves broadcasting HQ. RSF shot photojournalist in back

NOTE that this photo was taken on April 14It shows a Sudan Journalists Syndicate meeting held to discuss the security situation in Sudan. The meeting was held one day before 'surprise' fighting erupted in Khartoum.


Earlier this month a group of RSF rebels raided the office of El Hirak El Siyasi newspaper in Khartoum and award-winning Sudanese photojournalist Faiz Abubakr Mohamed was shot in the back. Read more.


Report at Radio Dabanga - dabangasudan.org

Dated Sunday 21 May 2023

Sudan Journalists Syndicate demand RSF leaves broadcasting HQ


Sudan Journalists Syndicate meet to discuss the security situation in the country on April 14, one day before the outbreak of war (Source: SJS)


(KHARTOUM / OMDURMAN - May 21, 2023) - As Sudan entered its 34th day of war on Friday, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) released a statement condemning the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) use of “media and press institutions as a field of military battles.”


“The Radio and Television Corporation has been suspended from working and broadcasting since April 15,” when clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, spiralled into war.


On April 17, the organisation reported that 17 employees of the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) were “stranded” inside buildings on Republic Street in Omdurman, Khartoum state. A number of them were reported to have been evacuated on April 19.


In its latest statement, the SJS called on the RSF to immediately leave radio and television headquarters so that journalists can continue to do their work. “Their adoption of military bases puts the historical national legacy inside the two organs at risk of destruction and sabotage.”


The SJS also appealed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) “to intervene with the warring parties in Sudan” in order to save radio and television libraries. 


“We call on the organisation, out of its responsibility to preserve human heritage… to save this legacy from being lost.”


Since fighting erupted in Sudan last month, supporters from both sides have threatened journalists for criticising human rights violations by both sides, according to the SJS.


On May 16, Al Jazeera reported that six people have been told that they will be hurt or killed if they continue reporting abuses in Sudan.


The SJS expressed its concerns about “new threats against men and women journalists” in a statement on May 11, after lists began circulating on social media calling out journalists for betraying the SAF and inciting violence against them. According to journalists who spoke to Al Jazeera, members of the National Congress Party claim anyone who appears neutral is against the army and with the RSF.”


Earlier this month, a group of paramilitaries of the RSF raided the office of El Hirak El Siyasi newspaper in Khartoum and a Sudanese photojournalist was shot in the back.


Following its reformation last year, the SJS said that the press and media in Sudan have faced unprecedented targeting since the October 2021 coup.


Before April 15, Sudan was already ranked 151 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index, and 29 out of 100 (i.e. ‘Not Free’) in Freedom House’s Internet Freedom Index. “Anti-journalist predators enjoy total impunity and are protected by the authorities” in Sudan, states Reporters Without Borders on its website.


Further reading


El Burhan sacks Hemedti as Sudan TSC V-P, appoints Malik Agar

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/el-burhan-sacks-hemedti-as-sudan-tsc-v-p-appoints-malik-agar.


View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-journalists-demand-rsf-leaves-broadcasting-hq
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Winner in the 'singles' category for Africa at regional stage of the prestigious 2022 World Press Photo Contest: 

A woman protestor hurls a teargas cannister back at riot police during pro-democracy protests in Sudan in 2021 

(Picture: Faiz Abubakr Mohamed / World Press Photo)


World Press Photo of the Year 2020

Straight Voice – A young man, illuminated by mobile phones, 

recites protest poetry 

while demonstrators chant slogans calling for civilian rule, 

during a blackout in Khartoum, Sudan, on 19 June 2019

(Yasuyoshi Chiba, Japan, AFP)



SW Ed Updated 23 May 2023 11:03 BST: Add Faiz to photojournalist's name; highlight Faiz in photo caption; hyphenate award-winning.