New York, May 16, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Sudanese Armed Forces to immediately and unconditionally release freelance journalist Siddiq Dalay, who was arrested over his social media posting on Monday, May 13.
“The Sudanese Armed Forces must release Siddiq Dalay and allow journalists to work freely to cover and comment on the country’s civil war,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “Dalay should have never been arrested for his social media posting on an item of public interest.”
Military intelligence officers with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) arrested Dalay, a freelance journalist and columnist who reports on the war and local politics on social media, on Monday in Ad-Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile state, according to news reports citing the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate and a local journalist who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, due to fear of reprisal.
Dalay’s arrest stemmed from his social media posts about Salah el-Din el-Tayeb, head of a local branch of the Sundanese Congress Party and a relative of Dalay, who died from injuries allegedly inflicted during his detention following his April 17 arrest by the SAF.
The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate condemned Dalay’s arrest in a statement Tuesday and said it held the armed forces responsible for Dalay’s safety and security.
Since the beginning of the civil war between the SAF and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, journalists have been killed, arrested, harassed, and sexually assaulted.
CPJ’s emails to the SAF concerning Dalay’s arrest received no replies.