May 2025
In This Newsletter:
1. The war pushes Sudanese journalism to the brink of collapse.
2. The arrest of content creator Ziyad Tito on charges of publishing material contrary to public morals.
3. Kamel Idris appointed Prime Minister to settle the Sovereignty Council conflict.
4. Woja Dating Site publishes a report on the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community in Egypt.
5. Sudan Cuts Diplomatic Relations with the UAE and Declares It an Aggressor State, Saudi Arabia and Qatar consider the targeting of vital facilities in Port Sudan and Kassala a threat to the region's national security.
The war pushes Sudanese journalism to the brink of collapse
On May 3, 2025, while the world marks World Press Freedom Day with lofty slogans, a report by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate reveals the tragic reality of journalism in Sudan after two years of war: 31 journalists have been killed, over 550 violations have been documented, and thousands of journalists have lost their sources of income. This paints a picture of a direct assault on truth itself, as part of a systematic strategy to silence free voices.
But what official statements and press releases often fail to mention is that this collapse of the media landscape does not affect everyone equally. Marginalized communities—particularly those of diverse sexual and gender identities—pay a double price. Their issues are completely excluded from coverage, and their very existence is framed as a threat, rather than a natural expression of human diversity. When the press is repressed, it's not just the truth that is silenced—the margins are suffocated, and individuals who do not conform to what is "socially acceptable" or "politically useful" are isolated.
The deterioration of the media is not a side effect of the war—it is one of its tools. It is used to reproduce power, to redefine who is allowed to speak, who gets written about, and who is deliberately forgotten. Amid this systematic silence, the daily crimes against civilians in Sudan go unseen. Violations are left undocumented and unpunished. The forced absence of journalistic voices creates an information vacuum that allows Sudan to be ignored on the global stage. This prolongs the war, weakens international pressure on war criminals, and reduces the chances for justice and accountability. It also undermines the foundations needed to build a free and independent press capable of supporting any real path toward democratic transition after the war.
In the face of this orchestrated silence, exiled journalists—alongside activists and actors from repressed communities—become the last line of defense for narratives of justice and dignity, standing up to a machine that demands only one voice, one story, and one authority.
More details: https://bit.ly/3HSxO0Q
The arrest of content creator Ziyad Tito on charges of publishing material contrary to public morals
On May 28, 2025, Egyptian police arrested content creator Ziyad Tito and referred him to the Public Prosecution for investigation on charges of public indecency and engaging in acts contrary to public morals. He is also accused of promoting debauchery and immorality through content posted on social media platforms.
The arrest is linked to the content he shares on TikTok. News outlets did not report the Public Prosecution’s decisions, but the case comes amid increasing security surveillance of social media platforms—especially TikTok—where authorities are expanding arrests and investigations of content creators on similar charges.
This case marks a new episode in the ongoing “TikTok Girls” series. Our media monitoring of this case revealed that several news outlets, including Sada El-Balad and Akhbar El-Yom, repeatedly published personal information such as Ziyad’s neighborhood and details about the money and possessions found with him—practices commonly seen in Egyptian media coverage of similar cases since the Queen Boat incident (Cairo 52).
More details: https://bit.ly/43Ro7rU
Kamel Idris appointed Prime Minister to settle the Sovereignty Council conflict
Sudan has witnessed a significant political development with the appointment of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Army, of the diplomat and former independent presidential candidate Kamel Idris as Prime Minister. This move is the first of its kind since Abdullah Hamdok's resignation in January 2022 and has been welcomed by international and regional organizations such as the African Union, IGAD, the Arab League, and the United Nations, all expressing hope that this step will open the door for a comprehensive political solution and an end to the ongoing war since April 2023.
Idris’s appointment came less than a month after former ambassador Dafallah Al-Haj Ali was assigned the position of Minister of Council Affairs and Acting Prime Minister. However, disagreements within the military institution and the Sovereignty Council, led by Shams al-Din Kabashi and Malik Agar, pushed al-Burhan to seek an alternative.
The objections centered around the extensive powers granted to Ali, considered inappropriate given his closeness to the previous regime, leading some council members to call for appointing a figure from outside those circles. This led Ali to withdraw from assuming his duties despite his readiness to travel from Riyadh to Port Sudan.
Subsequently, al-Burhan issued a decree that revoked the supervisory powers of Sovereignty Council members over ministries, granting the Prime Minister full executive authority as stipulated in the amended constitutional document of February 2025. This was seen as a step that restores the political transition path.
Simultaneously, al-Burhan appointed two new members to the Sovereignty Council to represent eastern and central Sudan, Nawara Abu Muhammad and Salma Abdel Jabbar, the latter of whom had been previously dismissed.
Despite international endorsement, Idris’s appointment was met with broad rejection from opposition forces, chiefly the Civil Democratic Alliance led by Abdullah Hamdok, which viewed the move as a violation of African Union principles and a legitimization of the existing war-driven authority rather than consensus governance. The alliance warned that this step could prolong the war and deepen the country’s division. They also argued that amendments to the constitutional document handed full power to the military, rendering any appointed figure powerless.
Similarly, the National Umma Party rejected the appointment, deeming the current government illegitimate and describing such moves as escalation that undermines the peace process. Party leader Imam Al-Hilu stated that this step paves the way for the Rapid Support Forces to form a parallel government, further deepening political division.
The Sudanese Congress Party also rejected the decision, considering the appointment of a prime minister amid war as a cover-up for the ongoing catastrophe. The party spokesman Nour al-Din Babiker said these appointments represent desperate attempts to legitimize the military authority in Port Sudan.
The Rapid Support Forces were quick to express their stance, with their leader’s advisor, Imran Abdullah, declaring the appointment “invalid and irrelevant” to them, pointing out that al-Burhan lacks legitimacy and has no right to appoint any executive figure.
In contrast, the African Union welcomed Idris’s appointment, calling it a step toward comprehensive governance that enhances democratic transition. It urged all Sudanese parties to intensify efforts for an inclusive civilian political process and confirmed its readiness to support this path in cooperation with international partners.
Amid these formal political shifts, which tend to reproduce the same power structures, the rights and demands of the sexual and gender minorities community are once again trampled. This community continues to be treated as a non-priority issue—indeed, as a threat to be silenced within the equations of both ruling and opposition powers alike. Despite being among the most affected by the war—through displacement, violence, and exclusion—they remain denied representation and the ability to narrate their suffering and experiences as an integral part of Sudanese reality. Their marginalization is not merely an absence but a deliberate policy to exclude those who do not conform to the “acceptable identity” narratives, reinforcing a map of privileges that excludes all that is different. Ignoring their voices means accepting half the truth and half the justice, a stance that must be firmly and clearly rejected.
More details: https://bit.ly/44bGZAC
Woja Dating Site publishes a report on the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community in Egypt
The Woja website published a report titled "Challenges and Reality: A Comprehensive Look at the LGBTQ+ Community in Egypt," which presents the legal and social realities of LGBTQ+ individuals in Egypt. The report includes data on the annual number of arrests from 2010 up to 2023. According to the report, 70% of gay men face security issues while using dating websites and apps, including arrests, threats, or blackmail.
The report also highlights the challenges faced by the researchers during their work, such as the difficulty of accessing information due to the societal stigma around homosexuality and the strict security measures that make people hesitant to participate in such studies.
More Details: https://bit.ly/4lgBIi7
Sudan Cuts Diplomatic Relations with the UAE and Declares It an Aggressor State, Saudi Arabia and Qatar consider the targeting of vital facilities in Port Sudan and Kassala a threat to the region's national security
Sudan’s announcement to sever diplomatic ties with the UAE and escalate accusations of military aggression and direct support to the Rapid Support Forces highlights the deep entanglement of regional interests and external funding in fueling the war inside Sudan. However, this framing also reduces the crisis to a conflict between two states and two armies, overlooking the ongoing catastrophic impact on civilians and marginalized communities.
Within this hardline official discourse, the suffering of the people—especially women, displaced persons, and sexual and gender minority communities—is met with deliberate neglect, as their voices find no resonance in official statements or political calculations. A power structure is being reproduced that recenters authority in the hands of military and political elites, without accountability, excluding everything that does not conform to the masculine national state narrative that monopolizes the definitions of “nation” and “citizenship.”
Meanwhile, sexual and gender minority communities are completely erased from the scene, despite being among the groups most affected by armed violence, displacement, and social and psychological targeting. This neglect is not accidental but reflects a structural repressive system that views their existence as a threat to the prevailing hierarchy of privileges and continues marginalizing them as part of a broader strategy to exclude all that is unfamiliar or ungovernable. What is happening is not only external aggression but also a continuation of long-standing internal aggression against the right to existence, recognition, and protection for vulnerable groups in Sudan.
And Despite what appears to be a Gulf-driven concern for “Sudan’s stability,” the recent condemnations by Saudi Arabia and Qatar of the Rapid Support Forces' shelling of Port Sudan and Kassala reveal, at their core, a politically selective stance that strips the concepts of security and peace of their true meaning.
While official statements emphasize “infrastructure” and “vital facilities,” they make no mention whatsoever of the civilians living under bombardment and persecution—especially those from already marginalized social groups such as gender and sexual minorities. These individuals experience the war within the war—threatened not only by shelling, but also by the complete erasure of any narrative that acknowledges their existence or holds the warring parties accountable for their safety.
Statements that call for a “Sudanese-Sudanese political solution” and speak of “supporting institutions” willfully ignore the fact that these very institutions—political, military, and religious—have long cultivated hate speech and are now repurposing it as a tool for social control and suppression of the margins. Even the reference to the “Jeddah Declaration for the Protection of Civilians” feels like a fig leaf in the face of a deafening silence surrounding systematic violations occurring in plain sight.
The official Arab discourse, in reducing war to a mere power struggle and stripping it of its social dimensions, reproduces the same narrative that turns Sudan into a stage for regional influence games, all while sidelining the people—especially those who don’t fit into politically or morally accepted categories. As entire cities are bombed, individuals from the LGBTQ+ community are left without even a language to describe the violence they face from both the state and armed groups—let alone access to protection or support. The threat doesn’t only fall from the sky; it comes from every narrative that insists on erasing them, turning their existence into a void on the map of war.
More details: https://bit.ly/40ezXdj
https://bit.ly/3ZGRjPW