A Sudanese court has sentenced Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to death for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide stemming from atrocities in the West Darfur region. The court in Port Sudan convicted Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, and 15 other senior RSF members in absentia.
The trial focused on alleged atrocities in the regional capital of el-Geneina, including the June 2023 killing of the state governor, Khamis Abbakar. The court also found the defendants guilty of orchestrating attacks on civilians, widespread destruction and looting, and targeting schools, places of worship, and residential neighborhoods.
Among those sentenced were 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 court ordered the confiscation of all RSF assets and requested Interpol Red Notices for the arrest and extradition of the convicted.
This verdict marks the first judicial conviction of the RSF's leadership since the outbreak of civil war. However, its practical impact remains uncertain as the RSF continues to control significant parts of western Sudan, and its leaders are beyond the army's immediate reach. Hemedti's current whereabouts are not publicly known.
United Nations investigators and human rights organizations have accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of carrying out ethnically targeted attacks against the Masalit population in Darfur. Earlier in June, the International Criminal Court's deputy chief prosecutor stated that "concrete evidence" links RSF leaders to war crimes.
A Human Rights Watch report from May 2024 detailed that the campaign in and around el-Geneina between April and November 2023 resulted in thousands of deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands. The organization characterized these abuses as war crimes and crimes against humanity, constituting an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities.
Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have faced accusations of human rights abuses and war crimes. UN investigators have previously found that the Sudanese army and the RSF targeted civilians and vital infrastructure, such as medical facilities, in large-scale attacks.
Sudan descended into civil war in April 2023 following a power struggle between the leader of the Sudanese army, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Hemedti. The ongoing conflict has resulted in over 150,000 deaths, an estimated 12 million people displaced from their homes, and approximately 28 million facing acute hunger, according to aid agencies.
The Sudan Founding Alliance, which includes the RSF, called the trial a "sham trial" that "does not even deserve a comment." The RSF has not yet directly commented on the verdict but has previously denied accusations of war crimes during the conflict.