The Sudanese authorities transferred the director of Al Jazeera's office in Khartoum, fellow Muslim Al-Kabbashi, to Soba prison, south of the capital, despite the prosecutor's decision to release him, amid widespread local and international condemnations and calls for his release as soon as possible.

The Prosecution of Crimes Against the State in Sudan had begun an investigation with Al-Kabashi regarding Al-Jazeera's coverage of events in the country, after a security force raided his house on Saturday evening and arrested him, without knowing the nature of the charges against him.

The General Union of Sudanese Journalists, dissolved by the ousted transitional government, condemned the arrest of Al-Kabashi since the day before yesterday.

In a statement, he called on the Sudanese authorities to release him or bring him to a speedy trial.

He also called for the release of all detained journalists, to stop harassing and prosecuting journalists, to allow them to practice their journalistic work freely, and to respect freedom of opinion and expression and press freedoms.

A security force arrests the director of Al Jazeera's office in Sudan after raiding his house, and the network calls on the authorities to release him immediately and enable its journalists to work without intimidation pic.twitter.com/Endmr9QHfX

- Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) November 14, 2021

International condemnations

For its part, the International Press Institute strongly condemned the arrest of Al-Kabbashi, and called on the Sudanese authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.

The Executive Director of the Institute, Barbara Trionvi, said that what had happened was a clear attack on freedom of the press, and that the media should be allowed to cover the events in Sudan freely.

Tryonfi called on the Sudanese army to stop all attempts to impede the work of journalists.

For his part, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, called on the Sudanese authorities to release all journalists who were arrested in Sudan, including the director of Al Jazeera's office.

In the foreign reactions as well, the US State Department expressed its concern about the arrest of Al-Kabashi, noting that the Sudanese security forces continue to arrest political leaders, civil society figures, journalists, and a number of protest organizers.

And she stressed that the Sudanese army should release all civilians detained against the background of what it described as the military takeover, including lifting the house arrest of ousted Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok.

Shortly after announcing Al-Kabbashi's arrest yesterday, Al-Jazeera network condemned "this behavior in the strongest terms," ​​and called on the military authorities "to immediately release the colleague and allow all its journalists to work without hindrance, and enable them to perform their duties without fear or intimidation."

Al-Jazeera network also held the Sudanese authorities "fully responsible for the safety of all its employees working in Sudan."