Sebastian Vandermeersch

Reporters Without Borders Says Rapid Support Forces Are Using Sham Legal Proceedings to Justify the Detention of Journalist Mouammar Ibrahim Reporters Without Borders has accused the Rapid Support Forces of using sham legal proceedings to justify the continued detention of Sudanese journalist Mouammar Ibrahim, more than eight months after he was arrested during the fall of El Fasher in North Darfur. Mouammar Ibrahim, a 30-year-old freelance journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera Mubasher, was detained by the Rapid Support Forces on 26 October 2025, as the paramilitary group took control of El Fasher after a siege that lasted nearly a year and a half. Since his arrest, his family has had no direct contact with him, and the Rapid Support Forces have not clearly disclosed where he is being held. Reporters Without Borders said the Rapid Support Forces continue to claim that Ibrahim is under investigation and will soon face trial. However, the press freedom organisation said the group has presented no evidence to legally justify his detention. It described the case as an attempt to give a false legal cover to arbitrary imprisonment. Martin Roux, head of the Reporters Without Borders Crisis Desk, said the parallel government led by the Rapid Support Forces, which has no international recognition, is fooling no one with its claims of investigating Ibrahim. He warned that the journalist is being held in conditions that pose a grave threat to his life and called for his immediate and unconditional release. The last public indication that Ibrahim was still alive came on 1 June, during a live interview on Al Jazeera Mubasher. Rapid Support Forces spokesman General al-Fatih Gurashi confirmed that the journalist remained in custody, but did not reveal his place of detention. Gurashi accused Ibrahim of fighting for what the Rapid Support Forces call the “Islamist movement’s army,” a term they use to describe the Sudanese Armed Forces, and said he would be put on trial. According to the Rapid Support Forces and their political allies, who announced a parallel government in late August 2025 that remains unrecognised by the United Nations, the accusations against Ibrahim are based on posts he published on X and Facebook during the siege of El Fasher. He is accused of spreading false information and inciting discord among the population. Reporters Without Borders said that, after reviewing Ibrahim’s social media posts, it found that he had documented famine, bombardment, and the killing of civilians during the nearly 500-day siege of El Fasher. That siege ended in a major assault which a United Nations fact-finding mission said bore the “hallmarks of genocide,” while Amnesty International described events there as “ethnic cleansing.” Ibrahim also reported on fighting between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, described the Rapid Support Forces as a militia, and published accounts alleging the use of toxic substances against civilians. Similar allegations were documented by Sudanese activists and doctors on the ground. In some posts, he referred to the Rapid Support Forces as the Janjaweed, a term associated with the militias mobilised by former dictator Omar al-Bashir during the Darfur war in the early 2000s, from which many Rapid Support Forces commanders emerged. Reporters Without Borders said these posts appear to have been used as a pretext to accuse Ibrahim of working for the Sudanese Armed Forces. The organisation framed the case as the punishment of a journalist for documenting abuses during one of the deadliest chapters of Sudan’s war. Concerns over Ibrahim’s health have also intensified. On 15 May, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate said it had received confirmed information that he was being held at Digris prison, about twelve kilometres west of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and one of the main Rapid Support Forces command centres. The syndicate warned that his health had severely deteriorated and said he was being denied medical examinations and treatment, creating a direct threat to his life. Digris prison is reportedly severely overcrowded and marked by appalling sanitary conditions, with several thousand detainees held there according to various sources. Al Jazeera Media Network has also expressed deep concern for Ibrahim’s health and safety. A report published by Sudan Defenders on 30 June suggested that he remained detained at Digris prison. However, Reporters Without Borders said credible sources also point to the possibility that Ibrahim may be held at another detention site inside Nyala itself. According to a journalist who was held in that facility before the war and before the Rapid Support Forces took over the city, the building contains four solitary confinement cells and two communal cells. General Gurashi did not respond to Reporters Without Borders’ questions about Ibrahim’s whereabouts. The uncertainty surrounding Ibrahim’s place of detention and conditions has deepened the suffering of his family. His younger brother told Reporters Without Borders that their last conversation took place only days before El Fasher fell. At the time, the family was preparing to flee to northern Sudan, while Ibrahim chose to remain in the city to continue his reporting until the final moments. Ibrahim’s case has become another symbol of the dangers facing Sudanese journalists, especially those who documented the siege and fall of El Fasher. Reporters Without Borders is calling on the Rapid Support Forces to end the sham proceedings, reveal where Ibrahim is being held, allow his family and lawyers to contact him, provide him with urgent medical care, and release him immediately and unconditionally. #Sudan #RSFisTerroristOrganization #UAEKillsSudanesePeople #UAESponsorsTerrorism