A court based in the army-controlled city of Port Sudan has sentenced Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, to death in absentia. The ruling found him guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide tied to events in West Darfur.
Fifteen other senior RSF commanders received identical sentences.
The Sudan Founding Alliance, which includes the RSF, rejected the proceedings outright, calling them a sham trial that requires no response.
The case centered on the June 2023 killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abbakar in the regional capital el-Geneina. Judges also held the defendants responsible for systematic attacks on civilians, widespread looting and destruction of property, and strikes on schools, places of worship, and residential areas.
Those convicted include Hemedti’s brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo; another brother, Al-Qoni Hamdan Dagalo; and the RSF’s West Darfur commander, Abdul Rahman Juma Barkallah.
The RSF has not issued a fresh statement on the verdict but has long denied committing war crimes during the conflict.
Presiding Special Judge Mohamed Al-Amin ordered the seizure of all RSF assets and directed authorities to request Interpol Red Notices for the arrest and extradition of the convicted men.
This is the first formal judicial conviction against the RSF leadership since fighting began, although its practical effect appears limited. The group still controls large areas of western Sudan, and its senior figures remain outside the reach of Sudanese army authorities. Hemedti’s current location is not publicly known.
United Nations investigators and human rights groups have accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of carrying out ethnically targeted violence against the Masalit community in Darfur.
Earlier this month, the deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that the court possesses concrete evidence linking RSF leaders to war crimes.
A May 2024 Human Rights Watch investigation documented that fighting in and around el-Geneina between April and November 2023 killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. The report described the abuses as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities.
Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have faced accusations of serious human rights violations. United Nations investigators previously concluded that forces on both sides deliberately targeted civilians and critical infrastructure, including medical facilities.
Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between Sudanese army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti. The conflict has killed more than 150,000 people, forced around 12 million to flee their homes, and left approximately 28 million people facing acute hunger, according to aid agencies.
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