Egypt: four Sudanese refugee journalists risk expulsion, endangering their lives
Four Sudanese journalists held in a refugee centre in Egypt face imminent deportation to Sudan, where they could face reprisals for their journalism. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reiterates that Sudan is a dangerous zone for journalists and urges the Egyptian authorities to release the journalists and ensure their protection.
After spending over a month in Egyptian jails, four Sudanese journalists are being threatened with expulsion. They were arrested on 23 September while recording an interview with Mohamed Hassan Bouchi, a Sudanese human rights defender exiled in Egypt, for the Sudanese TV channel Sudan Bukra.
The journalists, who hold temporary asylum seeker registration cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had fled their war-torn country, victims of abuses by both warring parties. With the help of their lawyers, they have battled numerous chaotic judicial and administrative procedures since their arrest, oscillating between the threat of deportation to Sudan and the hope of finding refuge in a safer country, such as Uganda.
Yet the hope of refuge was extinguished on 22 October, when the journalists were placed in a military prison in the city of Aswan to facilitate their deportation by land, according to their lawyer Iqbal Ahmed Ali. "The persistence of the concerned parties acting against these journalists is surprising,” she told RSF, “to the point that we are beginning to fear that their status as journalists is being used against them. After nearly a month in detention, what we are seeing is a lack of coordination between the UNHCR and the Egyptian authorities."
"These four refugee journalists should not be detained or deported for doing their jobs: covering a war they can no longer document from their home country due to the imminent danger to their lives. Sending these media professionals back to Sudan would not only constitute a flagrant violation of their right to safety but would put them in grave danger, given the reprisals they would be exposed to. We call on the Egyptian authorities to halt the deportation procedure. These journalists must be released and their protection guaranteed.
Egypt ranks 170th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF in 2024.
