Journalist caught, tortured by Sudanese officials hid memory card film

LONDON: A journalist who was captured, chained up and tortured by Sudanese authorities for more than six weeks was able to produce a film about his hellish ordeal by hiding a memory card in his anus.

Phil Cox crossed the border into Sudan with his colleague Daoud Hari in December with the aim of reporting on the plight of people in the Darfur region – but was soon abducted by armed militiamen.

The pair discovered authorities had tracked their movements and put a “capture or kill” bounty on their heads for £250 000 (R4.3 million).

As they neared the Jebel Marra mountains, they were kidnapped by militia in Darfur and held hostage by guards armed with AK47s. They were chained to a tree in the desert for a week and beaten.

It was at this point that Cox was able to trick his captors into filming themselves on his camera. He took the memory card and to preserve the footage he had obtained, wrapped it in a strip of black plastic and hid it.

The contents of the card will feature in a two-part film by Channel 4 News, which commissioned Cox and Hari to report on the impact of illegal migration through Sudan and investigate allegations of government attacks on civilians in Darfur using chemical weapons.

Their ordeal did not end there. The militia transferred them to authorities, who detained them in the notorious Kobar Prison, Khartoum.

Writing in The Guardian this week, Cox describes how on the flight from El Fasher to Khartoum, men threatened to throw him off the plane. “The plane was taxiing, and I started to shout, to beg for my life,” he recounted. “My body swayed with the movement of the plane – then I heard the voice of the security chief from the offices in El Fasher. ‘Be a man,’ he said to me, and laughed.”

During his 40-day detention, Cox was beaten, given electric shocks with a cattle prod and subjected to a mock execution.

After repeated overtures from the US and UK governments, Hari – a Sudanese national granted asylum in the US – was released on January 18, and Cox on February 1. At the time, officials said Cox had been “pardoned” by President Omar al-Bashir.

An official told the EFE news agency that Cox had entered the country illegally, and his intention to investigate claims of chemical weapons use – and his “involvement in planned activities harmful to national security has been proved”. – The Independent