Detention and illegal harassment of human rights defender Imtithal Abdelfadeel
On 19 April 2025, military authorities in Kassala arrested Sudanese woman human rights defenderand journalist Imtithal Abdelfadeel while she was travelling to Port Sudan. The woman human rights defender was subsequently detained for three days before being released. She is currently being monitored by authorities and has been arbitrarily banned from travelling.
Imtithal Abdelfadeel is a Sudanese woman human rights defender and journalist working with Aljareeda Alsudaia daily newspaper. She mainly reports on social and economic rights of internally displaced people. She is a member of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate and one of the few active young female journalists supporting women’s rights and justice in Sudan.
On 19 April 2025, military authorities in Kassala arrested Sudanese woman human rights defenderand journalist Imtithal Abdelfadeel while she was travelling to Port Sudan. The woman human rights defender was subsequently detained for three days before being released. She is currently being monitored by authorities and has been arbitrarily banned from travelling.
Imtithal Abdelfadeel is a Sudanese woman human rights defender and journalist working with Aljareeda Alsudaia daily newspaper. She mainly reports on social and economic rights of internally displaced people. She is a member of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate and one of the few active young female journalists supporting women’s rights and justice in Sudan.
On 19 April at 5:00 a.m, Imtithal Abdelfadeel was arrested and detained by military officers at a bus station as she was about to begin her journey to Port Sudan. During the arrest, the authorities covered her eyes and confiscated her mobile phone. The woman human rights defender had intended to travel outside of the country for a journalism assignment which she organised with Aljareeda Alsudaia. It is suspected that the relevant authorities were informed of this in advance and subsequently detained her with the apparent intention of causing her to miss her scheduled flight and preventing the assignment from taking place.
Imtithal Abdelfadeel was held at a detention facility in Kassala State for three days before being released, where she was subjected to interrogation and held incommunicado throughout. In order to be released, the woman human rights defender was coerced into signing an arbitrary agreement under duress and threats, which included a travel ban preventing her from leaving the state or the country.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention and travel ban imposed on woman human rights defender and journalist Imtithal Abdelfadeel. Front Line Defenders believes that the woman human rights defender has been targeted with punitive measures solely as a result of her legitimate and non-violent human rights work.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Sudan to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally remove all restrictions on the free movement of Imtithal Abdelfadeel;
2. Cease all further forms of harassment or surveillance against Imtithal Abdelfadeel, as Front Line Defenders believes her arrest and surveillance is solely a result of her legitimate work in defence of human rights;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Sudan are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
