Six months have passed since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the Sudanese regional capital Al Fashir and shared dozens of videos documenting their massacre in the city.
A United Nations (UN) fact-finding report estimated the RSF killed at least 6,000 people in three days, in a takeover that bears "the hallmarks of genocide".
Amid the clips of violent killings was a stark warning to Sudanese journalists who have covered the brutal war at home.
A video emerged of Muammar Ibrahim, a reporter known for documenting the 18-month RSF siege on his hometown Al Fashir for the Al Jazeera channel, being jostled in the darkness and forced to speak to the camera by an RSF fighter.
Another video showed Mr Ibrahim visibly terrified on his knees in the dirt.
He has been held by the RSF since they captured Al Fashir with little to no communication with the outside world.
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Around 300 independent journalists have fled Sudan out of fear of repression and retaliation since the start of the war between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023.
On 3 November 2025, a video was shared on official RSF channels of Mr Ibrahim sitting at the desk of an RSF officer who announced that the reporter would be investigated for spreading false information.
Reporters Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists have regularly called for Mr Ibrahim's release and protection in the six months since he was detained.
Efforts by journalists and relatives to negotiate his freedom have been unsuccessful. Reporters Sans Frontiers reports that he is being held in an undisclosed location without contact with his family or a lawyer.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the RSF-led TASIS government responded to my latest questions about Mr Ibrahim's wellbeing and whereabouts - this time in a WhatsApp group created to share TASIS press releases with journalists.
"He is in good health," said Dr Alaa Nugud. "[He] will soon be presented to legal proceedings, especially after appointing Chairperson of the Judiciary system in the Peace government last week."
"What crime is he being charged for?" I asked.
Dr Nugud responded with a series of social media posts shared by Mr Ibrahim that show support for the army and describe the RSF as a militia. An RSF siege was starving Al Fashir into famine at the time of his social media posts.
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The army, state-backed Joint Task Forces, and civilian resistance fighters were fending off RSF capture from inside the city Mr Ibrahim was reporting from.
In the weeks before Al Fashir was captured, state intelligence briefly held and questioned Mr Ibrahim before releasing him.
The TASIS spokesperson also presented the landmark prosecution of two Rwandan journalists for the use of anti-Tutsi hate media to fuel the killing of 800,000 Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.
The journalists were sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a UN court which was based in Tanzania.
"Can you find similarity between the two cases?" Dr Nugud asked. "The judge will decide if there is or no…"
"Who is the judge? What constitution will the court be using? Do you consider Muammar a journalist, protected by International Humanitarian Law?"
There was no response to these questions. The conversation ended and what remains is serious concern over the judge, jury, and executioner in the RSF's prosecution of journalist Muammar Ibrahim.
The Sudanese Journalism Syndicate has documented 393 cases of direct violence against the media and journalists in the first year of war alone.
On 13 April, Sudanese journalist Zamzam Khatir shared on Facebook that her family home in Kutum, North Darfur was raided by the RSF. She said they looted the house and forcibly took her brothers, sisters, nephew, and several female guests to an undisclosed location.
(c) Sky News 2026: Six months since Sudan militants captured Al Fashir, what's happened to detained journalist?
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