On November 26, 2016, while working as commentator on a sports programme on radio channel FM 104, Ahmed Gouda spoke about the protests ongoing in the country at the time over rising medicine prices. Later that day, Gouda was arrested by the NISS, and detained for more than 40 days. After his release, the NISS issued a one-year travel ban against him and ‘blacklisted’ him to ban him from working as a journalist in Sudan.

On May 12, 2018, Gouda was arrested again at his house in Omdurman by the NISS and held at their headquarters for interrogation for 16 hours. He was released the same day.

On July 16, 2018, Gouda was re-arrested at his house in Omdurman by the NISS and brought to an unknown place of detention. He was forcibly disappeared for more than two months, during which he was held for 45 days in a detention centre located in the NISS offices in Khartoum, and 19 days at the NISS detention centre in Kober Prison in Khartoum. While detained, Gouda began a hunger strike to protest against the wilful denial of medical care and the poor conditions of detention. He was released on September 18, 2018 without charge.