Khaberni - The International Committee to Protect Journalists stated that it has received reports indicating the disappearance of 13 journalists and the rape of at least three female journalists during the recent attack on Al-Fashir in North Darfur.
The International Committee to Protect Journalists in a statement said that the Darfur Journalists Forum informed them that at least three female journalists were raped by Rapid Support Forces during their recent attack.
The committee noted that these rapes are part of a broader pattern of sexual violence against female journalists and other women.
The committee reported that it received information from several local human rights groups that at least 13 journalists disappeared over this weekend, following the Rapid Support Forces' takeover of Al-Fashir.
The statement also noted that with the paramilitary forces' control over the Sudanese city of Al-Fashir over the weekend, its journalists became both witnesses and victims at the same time.
A Sudanese journalist who managed to escape from Al-Fashir told the Committee to Protect Journalists on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution: "We cover events in the dark... Every hour we lose a new voice".
The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that it has been able to verify that the journalists Abdul Majeed Al-ahnaf, Mohamed Ahmed Nizar, Mohamed Suleiman Tahir Shaib, Faeha Mohamed Halou, and Muhyi Al-Deen Alsahaf managed to escape from Al-Fashir and moved to a safer location.
The fate of the other missing journalists, Muammar Ibrahim, Khaled Abu Arga, Magdi Youssef, Mohamed Al Rifa'i, Taj Alsir Ahmed Sulaiman, Mohamed Hussein Shelbi, Ata Mohamed, and Ismail Mohamed Ahmed, remains unknown.
According to the same source, with the cutting off of internet and phone networks in Al-Fashir, their colleagues and families are unable to verify whether they are detained by the Rapid Support Forces or even if they are alive.
Local journalists say that the only updates now come from social media pages controlled by the armed group or from civilians displaced and fleeing the city.
Since the beginning of the war, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented a series of violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces across Sudan including killing at least 14 journalists, raping female journalists, turning media offices into detention centers, and kidnapping journalists for ransom, noting that the perpetrators themselves filmed many of these violations and published them.
The committee has called for the protection of all journalists in Al-Fashir and the immediate release of detainees.
On October 26, the Rapid Support Forces announced their full control over Al-Fashir.
The city, which had been besieged by Rapid Support Forces for 18 months, was the last barrier for the group to seize full control of Darfur.
