Journalists Recall Torture and Flight From El-Fasher Siege

November 13, 2025 – Sudan – 

Two Sudanese journalists have vividly recounted their ordeal during the siege of El‑Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, exposing the brutal repression of media workers by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The testimonies were gathered by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which warned of severe human-rights violations and urged the international community to intervene.

One of the journalists—whose identity is withheld for security reasons—stayed in El-Fasher for more than 18 months to cover the conflict between the RSF and the national army. As the RSF launched a major assault starting on 26 October, he described fleeing “the inferno of flames” as civilians and combatants were engulfed in chaos. At the edge of town, RSF fighters detained him, stripped him of his phone and equipment, beat and humiliated him, and pressured him to claim links with the national army. After his release, he endured a five-day trek across scorched land, facing thirst, hunger, and constant threats before finally reaching safety.

Another journalist reported similar abuses: arbitrary arrest, extortion, torture during interrogation, racist insults, and repeated threats of death. He said he deliberately erased evidence of his professional status from his mobile phone because he feared execution for being a journalist. RSF reports that at least nine additional media workers fled El-Fasher after 26 October, and many were subjected to comparable violence by the RSF.

RSF called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn the RSF’s attacks against journalists during its special session on El-Fasher and demanded the immediate release of the two still-detained journalists and information on the fate of one presumed forcibly disappeared. The statement also urged the African Union to document crimes against media professionals and intervene to protect them in Sudan.

RSF highlighted that during the two-and-a-half-year conflict between the RSF and the national army, both parties committed crimes against journalists: at least seven were killed, one remains missing, around fifteen were imprisoned, and two continue to be detained.

Reference – 

https://rsf.org/en/after-torture-flight-two-sudanese-journalists-describe-el-fasher-hell