Paramilitary group kidnaps, demands ransom for Sudanese journalist 

New York, August 29, 2024—Armed men affiliated with the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took freelance journalist Aladdin Abu Harba from his home in the East Nile region of Khartoum, an area under RSF control, on Friday, August 23, and detained him in an unknown location, according to news reports and a local journalist who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. 

They initially demanded a ransom of one million Sudanese pounds (US$400); after receiving it, they demanded another million and threatened to kill the journalist. Since the war in Sudan started between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF in April 2023, journalists have been killed, injured, harassed, arrested, and displaced.

“CPJ is shocked by the Rapid Support Forces’ kidnapping of Sudanese journalist Aladdin Abu Harba and demands for a ransom,” said CPJ Interim MENA Program Coordinator Yeganeh Rezaian. “The RSF must immediately and unconditionally release Abu Harba, and all parties of the war must ensure his safe return home and stop using journalists as military pawns.”

Local trade union Sudanese Journalists Syndicate condemned Abu Harba’s kidnapping in a Sunday statement and said it held the RSF responsible for the journalist’s safety.

Separately, a group of armed men raided the home of freelance journalist Abdulrahman Haneen in East Nile on August 16, held him at gunpoint, and stole four laptops, mobile phones, 750,000 Sudanese pounds (US$300), and his wife’s gold jewelry.

CPJ’s emails to the RSF and the SAF about Abu Harba’s kidnapping and the robbing of Haneen’s home received no replies.