Sudan’s RSF detains journalist in Darfur, says press freedom group

September 11, 2025 (NEW YORK) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have detained journalist El-Rashid Mohamed Haroun in the Darfur region for two months without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Haroun was taken by RSF soldiers from a market in El-Geneina, West Darfur, in July and held at one of their detention centres. In August, he was transferred to Dagres Prison, southwest of Nyala in South Darfur, where he remains without any formal accusations, the press freedom group said, citing a local journalist who is following the case.

His family has been barred from visiting him.

“The continued detention of journalist El-Rashid Mohamed Haroun by the paramilitary group RSF highlights the grave risks journalists in Darfur are facing to simply do their work,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director. “The RSF must immediately and unconditionally release Haroun, and end their practice of arbitrarily detaining journalists for their work.”

Haroun has worked as a director for the local radio station Darfur 90.3 and as a correspondent for several regional news channels.

At least 14 journalists and media workers have been killed in Sudan since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF erupted in April 2023.