With his long dreadlocks and slouchy beanie, Abdallah Ahmed has always known his choice of lifestyle means trouble in Sudan, where long-oppressed Rastafarians say they are being targeted anew.
Followers of the Rastafari tradition have always been "easy targets" for security forces due to their looks, said Ahmed, who was also frisked by security personnel during a Khartoum protest in November and faced charges of "causing public disturbance".
"It, however, never stopped us from growing our hair," he added. "Some of us died while holding on to their personal lifestyle."
Ahmed, 31, has for years been enamored of the Rastafari tradition which emerged in Jamaica last century and for him represents "telling the truth, being courageous, fighting for rights".
The number of Rastafarians in Sudan is unknown, and the community had largely lived underground under the autocratic rule of Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in April 2019 following mass protests against his regime.
"We were very enthused after Bashir's fall," said Ahmed, a long-time Bob Marley fan also known as "Maxman", at an art exhibition where he performed reggae music with his band.
"Musicians and artists flourished," said Ahmed, donning brightly colored head and wrist bands.
But a brief whiff of freedom did not last as a post-Bashir transition to civilian rule was upended last year when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military coup.
Under Bashir, community members were regularly harassed, had their heads shaved and faced persecution under stringent public order laws restricting how people dress or behave in public.
Ahmed said he had been arrested for drug possession in 2017 while performing music in public, and was flogged 20 times.
35-year-old film-maker Afraa Saad told AFP that as a woman she has faced greater scrutiny than male Rastafarians since she first embraced the tradition during the height of the anti-Bashir demonstrations.
Saad sees her lifestyle choice as part of Sudanese women's uphill battle against strict policing of social mores since the Bashir regime.
"The most persistent objection is: why would a girl wear dreadlocks when there are other more acceptable hairstyles," she said, noting a "prevalent stereotype" tying dreadlocks with drug use and "unbecoming behavior."
For some in Sudan, wearing dreadlocks, listening to reggae music or having a Rasta-like lifestyle is merely an act of defiance.
Saleh Abdalla, 26, who wears his hair in short dreadlocks, said it was his way of protesting the October 2021 military coup.
"We are refusing all violations that take place on behalf of authorities," he told AFP during one anti-coup demonstration in the capital Khartoum last month.
"I will keep the Rasta (dreadlocks) until the regime falls."