The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has documented the abduction of Mohamed Abdelrahman Mashaal, Director of the Mashaal Cultural, Educational, and Pedagogical Center in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, amid reports of his detention by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Committee considers this incident a serious violation of human rights and an alarming escalation of violence against civil activists and those working in humanitarian and service fields.
The cultural and educational center issued an urgent humanitarian appeal to the RSF demanding the immediate release of Mohamed Abdelrahman, stressing that he is a humanitarian, service, and relief activist with no affiliation to any military entity, making his targeting a clear breach of national laws and international conventions.
The El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination also called on the RSF to release all activists, human rights defenders, and workers in community kitchens and “Takayas,” noting that some are being held in Shala Prison and others in Al-Mina Al-Bari Prison, under unlawful detention conditions.
CFJ emphasized that these violations constitute a blatant breach of international treaties ratified by the Republic of Sudan, including the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, particularly the Fourth Convention on the protection of civilians during armed conflict, the First Additional Protocol of 1977, which stipulates the protection of persons not directly participating in hostilities, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and personal security, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention.
The Committee stressed that protecting civil activists and those working in humanitarian and service sectors is a legal and moral obligation, and that the continuation of such practices without urgent international intervention threatens to undermine humanitarian work and exacerbate civilian suffering in conflict zones.
CFJ called for an independent and transparent investigation to uncover the circumstances of the abduction and ensure the immediate release of all detainees, urging the United Nations and human rights organizations to monitor the situation in North Darfur and pressure armed groups to halt any form of intimidation or targeting of those engaged in civil and humanitarian work.