New
York, November 5, 2012-A critical Sudanese freelance journalist was
found on the side of a road in Khartoum on Friday after being reported
missing on October 29, according to news reports. Somaya Ibrahim Ismail
Hundosa had been tortured and her head shaved while she was held
captive, the reports said.
Hundosa was found in a remote area of the capital, news reports
said. Her family said that she had been subjected to "physical torture
and beating with whips" and that she had been told her head was shaved
because "it looked like the hair of Arabs while she belonged to the
slaves in Darfur," according to the pro-democracy group Grifina (We Are Fed Up). The journalist is now recovering at home with her family.
Hundosa's
family members told the local media that Hundosa was abducted near her
home in Khartoum and taken to an unknown location. Later that day, her
sister received a phone call with Hundosa's voice in the background,
begging to be allowed to speak with her sister, according to news
reports. The following day, Hundosa's nephew received an anonymous text
saying the journalist had been detained by agents from the National
Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), news reports said.
Hundosa
later told her family she believed her captors were indeed NISS agents.
The NISS has not publicly confirmed or denied any involvement in the
attack.
Hundosa's
captors showed her articles she had written and accused her of opposing
and disrespecting the regime of President Omar al-Bashir, according to news reports
citing Hundosa's family. Hundosa had covered human rights violations in
the western Darfur region and the Nuba Mountains in the South Kordafan
region, subjects that are deemed off-limits for journalists reporting on
Sudan, according to news reports. Her articles had appeared in local
Sudanese publications including the independent dailies Al-Watan and Al-Sahafa. Her
Facebook account had also been hacked several times in the past, news reports said.
Hundosa
had been summoned to an NISS office for questioning two days prior to
her abduction, news reports said. She had also told her family before
her abduction that a red car had been following her, the reports said.
Hundosa,
who is of Darfurian origin, a group that has suffered much persecution
under the regime, lives in Egypt, but was visiting her family in Sudan
for the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha, news reports said.
Hundosa's
family is planning to file a criminal complaint against unspecified
members of the NISS for the attack against the journalist, news reports
said.
"Authorities
must immediately and credibly investigate this horrifying attack on
Somaya Ibrahim Isamail Hundosa and bring the perpetrators to justice, no
matter who they are," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "This
attack shows the dangers that journalists in Sudan continue to face if
they dare criticize the government."
In June and July, CPJ documented
a series of journalist detentions, newspaper confiscations, raids by
security forces, and the blocking of critical websites to silence
coverage of protests that began in mid-June in Khartoum in which
citizens demonstrated against austerity measures.
### CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
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