August 26, Khartoum — An armed group abducted Alaa El-Din Abu Harba in an area controlled by the Rapid Supports Forces (RSF) in Khartoum on Friday, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate reported on Sunday.
The kidnappers initially demanded a ransom of one million Sudanese pounds ($365), and after receiving it, demanded a further billion pounds. They threatened to kill Abu Harba if the money was not paid.
In a statement, the journalists union held the RSF responsible for Abu Harba’s safety and his life was in “grave danger.”
On August 16, the home of another journalist Abdel Rahman Hanin in Khartoum was raided by a group of five masked men at dawn. They arrested Hanin and held his children and wife at gunpoint while they looted the house for valuables and cash.
In June, two journalists were killed by RSF forces.
Sudanese journalists have been at serious risk since the war began last April: the union has documented 438 violations against reporters since the outbreak. The conflict has been “characterized by a surge of violations against media freedom and journalists,” the union previously said in a statement. “During the war, journalists’ houses are raided, looted and destroyed almost daily.”