New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Sudanese authorities to launch a full investigation into the killing of journalist Muawiya Abdel Razek, hold those responsible to account, and ensure journalists are not treated as targets in the country's ongoing civil war.

On Tuesday, June 4, soldiers with the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) raided Razek's home in the el-Dorshab neighborhood north of Khartoum and shot him dead along with three of his family members who were with him at the time, according to news reports, a local journalist following the case who talked with CPJ on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, and a Facebook statement posted by the local Sudanese Journalists Syndicate trade union, which called Razek's death an "assassination."

"We are deeply alarmed by the killing of journalist Muawiya Abdel Razek and three of his family members in his home by armed soldiers of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces," said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York. "The Sudanese authorities must investigate Razek's killing and hold those responsible to account. All parties in the ongoing war must respect the rights of journalists as they report on crucial matters of public interest."

In December 2023, Razek, an investigative journalist who worked with many local newspapers including Al-Jarifa, Akhir Lahza , and Al-Akhbar, was detained by the RSF for three days after he was accused of working with military intelligence, according to those sources.

CPJ's emails to the RSF about Abdel Razek's killing received no replies.

Since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF started in mid-April of last year, many journalists have been killed, arrested, injured, displaced, and assaulted.