A recent human rights report by the Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF) has documented systematic patterns of “transnational repression” targeting Sudanese media professionals and journalists who have fled to Egypt to escape the armed conflict in their country.
Titled “Fleeing War Does Not Mean Survival,” the report published this week documents what it describes as “serious patterns of violations” facing these journalists. Fleeing Sudan didn't end the targeting, the report noted, but transplanted it to Egypt, where repression tied to the conflict's protagonists collides with the host country's shaky legal and security terrain. Harassment, beatings and digital threats aim to silence witnesses to atrocities since April 2023.
Since the war in Sudan began, journalists have faced escalating hardship as the conflict shuttered most media outlets and displaced thousands of media professionals, according to a previous report by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate. The syndicate confirmed that journalists displaced to neighboring countries suffer from extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, while others face an uncertain fate, stranded in border areas due to the complexity of entry-visa procedures.
Siege
The report by LDSF, a Berlin-based civil society organization founded by Egyptian human rights advocates in exile, as it describes itself, focuses on three documented cases of Sudanese media professionals who “experienced interconnected chains of violations spanning from inside Sudan to Egypt.” The report also details additional incidents during 2025 and 2026 that targeted Sudanese journalists and writers in Cairo.
Documented testimonies indicate that these violations are far from isolated incidents; rather, they form a coordinated “three-dimensional siege.” This systematic campaign weaponizes physical assault and harassment, digital defamation, and administrative pressure to maintain an environment of perpetual intimidation.
Perpetrators frequently leverage the prospect of malicious legal complaints or forced deportation as a mechanism to blackmail media professionals. These tactics are systematically deployed to muzzle critical reporting and silence those bearing witness to the ongoing war in Sudan.
Through in-depth interviews and medical records, the report documented three cases, including a producer and journalist the report identified only by the initials S.A. It confirmed that on two occasions, he was deliberately struck by a vehicle on the streets of Cairo.
Another case involved a photographer, “Y.Y.,” who was subjected to a violent group attack that resulted in severe injuries to his legs. Y.Y.’s brother was also separately targeted and stabbed with a knife.
Addressing efforts to prosecute the attackers, the foundation highlighted the difficulty of identifying those responsible, as they often operate in anonymous, plainclothes groups to conceal their affiliations and evade accountability.
Despite this obfuscation, the report maintains that the attackers’ granular knowledge of victims’ homes and daily movements, coupled with the clear intersection of online incitement and physical violence, strongly suggests an organized and politicized campaign of targeting.
Vulnerability
This repression feeds directly on the “legal precarity” facing Sudanese asylum seekers in Egypt. The foundation condemns the accelerating pace of arbitrary arrests and forced deportations as a clear breach of the non-refoulement principle enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Furthermore, the report warns that Egypt’s law regulating the asylum of foreigners effectively “securitizes” the entire asylum framework. By granting a government committee broad, unchecked authority under vague “national security” clauses, the legislation compounds the risks for the most vulnerable, especially those working as journalists.
Recommendations
The report concludes by demanding that Egyptian authorities honor their international obligations, urging them to cease using detention and deportation as leverage, launch credible investigations into documented abuses, and foster a safe environment for journalistic practice.
It further calls on UN special rapporteurs for human rights defenders and freedom of expression to formally document this brand of transnational repression in their periodic reporting, while pushing for the immediate implementation of protective measures for journalists at risk.
Finally, the foundation advises the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate to mobilize its Freedoms Committee to address these violations. Key recommendations include granting Sudanese journalists associate memberships or temporary identification cards to mitigate administrative barriers, alongside providing robust legal support to those facing harassment or assault.
