Muammar Ibrahim. Screenshot from video ‘RSF detains Sudanese journalist Muammar Ibrahim’ by Al Jazeera English. Fair use
By Muathal Hisham
In the aftermath of their bloody occupation of Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, in October, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detained journalist and political activist Muammar Ibrahim.
On October 26, Al-Fasher awoke to massive shelling by the RSF. What followed was a large-scale massacre that led the United Nations to describe the city as a “crime scene.” The extent of the killing was so high that it could be seen in satellite footage. The themes of rape and looting emerged as the RSF invaded the city that had previously been under siege.
The UN Human Rights Office reported “summary execution of civilians trying to flee, with indications of ethnic motivations for killings,” adding that “the likelihood of sexual violence against women and girls in particular is extremely high.”
Ibrahim’s broadcasts highlighted the suffering of the people of Al-Fasher amid the ongoing war that began in April 2023 between the UAE-funded RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). He worked with several news channels, including Al-Jazeera, reporting from the ground with updates in the region of Darfur.
The RSF were originally formed in 2013 from the Janjaweed militia (Janjaweed meaning “devils on horseback”) under the guise of being an official force to combat the rebellion in Darfur and Kordofan.
Instead, the RSF forces scorched the land, looting, killing and raping civilians under the protection of then-President Omar Al-Bashir. The International Criminal Court (ICC) accused Omar Al-Bashir of committing war crimes against the people of Darfur in 2009, but no warrant was issued for the current leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti).
As the war broke out, it did not take long for the RSF to take command of major cities in western Sudan, with Al-Fasher serving as the SAF’s last stronghold. This started a siege that lasted over 560 days until the RSF took the city in October.
Throughout the months of siege, citizens were not allowed to leave the city unless they paid ransoms to RSF militants surrounding the city. Food and medicine became so scarce that a famine ensued, and citizens were forced to eat animal feed. Many died of hunger, and numerous people lived under these inhumane conditions for months, denied any means of escape.
Ibrahim was one of the few sources reporting on the action in Al-Fasher. He used his X account to broadcast and call for help. On the day the city fell, Ibrahim was among those detained by the RSF.
He later appeared in a video posted by RSF-allied accounts on November 3, in which he was accused of defamation and of failing to maintain neutrality in his Facebook posts and reports. The posts described the RSF as a militia, which enraged the officials in the force who had proclaimed a parallel government in August.
Activists on social media, mainly on X, expressed concerns for Ibrahim’s safety and called for his release. @VistaMaps, an account with over 60,000 followers that provided updated maps of the SAF-controlled areas during the war, issued a statement calling on human rights bodies to protect Ibrahim and demanding his release.
The same account reported manipulation of Ibrahim’s X account, recalling that the tag-in-picture feature had been disabled. Another user claimed that several posts were deleted from Ibrahim’s account, including a post claiming that “Those who await the fall of Al-Fasher will wait for long.”
Sudanese political activist Yasser Alfadol called for the immediate release of Ibrahim under the hashtag #الحرية_للصحفي_معمر_إبراهيم (#freedom_for_journalist_muammar_ibrahim). Among those also calling for the release of Ibrahim was Al-Jazeera Mubasher’s news anchor, Ahmed Taha, who wrote on X that the RSF bears responsibility for the safety and security of Ibrahim and all other journalists in El Fasher.
The International Federation of Journalists and the Sudanese Union of Journalists issued a statement condemning Ibrahim’s arrest and calling for his release. Several journalistic organizations also called for Ibrahim’s release, including the International Press Institute (IPI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
