SHAHID EVIDENCE STATEMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END IMPUNITY FOR CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS

**SHAHID EVIDENCE STATEMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END IMPUNITY FOR CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS**

**Targeting Journalists Will Not Silence the Truth**

**Nairobi — 2 November 2026**

Shahid Evidence Platform for Digital Evidence and Human Rights Documentation marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists by reaffirming that protecting journalists is not a professional privilege. It safeguards society’s right to information, preserves the voices of victims, and enables crimes to be exposed and perpetrators held accountable.

In Sudan, where war continues and civilian suffering deepens, there is an urgent need to protect journalists, photographers, correspondents, and media workers, and to ensure that they can report events and document violations without fear of killing, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, threats, or retaliation.

Shahid Evidence condemns all attacks targeting journalists because of their work, regardless of who is responsible. The Platform rejects the use of geographical affiliation, political opinion, or media affiliation as a pretext for incitement, the denial of protection, or silencing journalists. Disagreement with journalistic coverage does not give anyone the right to attack those responsible for producing it.

The Platform stresses that threats extend beyond the battlefield. They include hacking, unlawful surveillance, blackmail, defamation, exposure of personal information, and online incitement, including violence directed against women journalists. The destruction of media institutions, confiscation of equipment, and obstruction of access to information further isolate communities and create conditions in which violations can be concealed.

**Impunity is not merely the denial of justice for a past crime. It sends a dangerous message that encourages the next one.**

Shahid Evidence therefore calls for:

1. Independent, prompt, and effective investigations into the killing, injury, disappearance, torture, and assault of journalists, establishing individual and command responsibility in accordance with the evidence and applicable law.

2. The release of all those arbitrarily detained for carrying out journalistic work; disclosure of the fate and whereabouts of disappeared journalists; and guaranteed access to their families, lawyers, and medical care.

3. A commitment by all parties to the conflict to protect journalists and media workers, stop incitement and threats against them, and facilitate their work without demanding political or military allegiance.

4. Safe access for competent independent international mechanisms to victims, witnesses, incident sites, and relevant records, without interference, intimidation, or retaliation.

5. Protection and legal, psychological, and security support for journalists at risk and victims’ families, including measures addressing the specific risks faced by women journalists.

6. The preservation of physical, medical, and digital evidence; prevention of its destruction or manipulation; and documentation of its provenance and chain of custody to support verification, investigation, and accountability.

7. Action by social media companies to develop procedures for the secure and lawful preservation of material of evidentiary value when content is removed, while protecting the privacy of victims and sources and avoiding further exposure to harm.

Shahid Evidence affirms that professional documentation requires a clear distinction between initial reports and verified facts. It also requires withholding sensitive information or testimonies that could endanger those concerned, and preserving original materials against manipulation or selective editing.

The Platform calls on media organisations and human rights institutions to coordinate their monitoring, verification, and advocacy efforts, so that cases do not become lost among statements of condemnation and the names of victims and the rights of their families remain central to the pursuit of justice.

**A camera may be shattered and a post may be deleted, but victims’ rights to truth and justice must never be erased. Protecting journalists is a duty. Investigation is essential. Accountability is a responsibility that must not be obstructed.**

**Shahid Evidence Platform for Digital Evidence and Human Rights Documentation**
**2 November 2026**
**shahidevidence.org**

#ShahidEvidence #JusticeForJournalists #EndImpunity #ProtectSudaneseJournalists