International Criminal Court Documents Militia Atrocities in El-Fasher and Khartoum, Calls for Arrest of Perpetrators

New York – Sudanhorizon
The Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Nazhat Shameem Khan, stated that the Office of the Prosecutor considers that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El-Fasher in western Sudan, particularly in late October, based on information and evidence collected.

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Monday regarding the situation in Darfur, Khan warned that “Darfur is, at this moment, undergoing mass torture,” noting that the fall of El-Fasher into the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was accompanied by an organised and systematic campaign of extreme suffering. She said the campaign particularly targeted non-Arab communities and included rape, arbitrary detention, executions, and mass graves.

Khan added that “the videos analysed by the Office show a pattern similar to crimes observed previously, which are alleged to have been committed by the perpetrators in other areas of Darfur, including the detention, ill-treatment, and killing of individuals from non-Arab tribes. Members of the Rapid Support Forces are seen celebrating live executions and then desecrating the bodies.”

She reported that eyewitnesses interviewed by the Office provided evidence of attacks on internally displaced persons’ camps, looting, indiscriminate targeting of civilians, arrests, gender-based crimes, and crimes against children in El-Geneina.

“The evidence shows that the patterns of atrocities across El-Geneina in 2023 were repeated in El-Fasher in 2025, and that this criminality is being replicated city after city across Darfur,” she said. “This will continue until this conflict ends and the sense of impunity that fuels it is brought to a halt.”

Khan stressed that the Court’s investigations continue to face significant obstacles, including limited access to relevant witnesses and the lack of safe access to crime scenes.

Sudan’s Position

Commenting on the briefing, Minister Plenipotentiary Ammar Mohammed Mahmoud said that the crimes committed in Darfur “require the Court to expedite the bringing of charges and the issuance of arrest warrants against the implicated leaders—some of whom have appeared publicly on mobile phone cameras documenting their own crimes.”

In his address to the session, he noted that delays in exercising the Court’s criminal jurisdiction raise serious questions, particularly given that alleged acts of ethnic genocide in El-Fasher, North Darfur State, have occurred twice since 2023.

He explained that, despite the passage of two years since the crimes committed in El-Geneina, West Darfur, and despite the availability of witnesses and evidence, the Court has not issued arrest warrants against the suspects.

“Delay fuels the perpetrators’ sense of impunity, encouraging them to continue committing further crimes, as happened in El-Fasher,” he said. “Had the Court acted swiftly to issue arrest warrants in relation to the events in El-Geneina, it might have been possible to prevent the recurrence of those atrocities in El-Fasher and elsewhere.”

Ammar called for the Court’s investigations to encompass all those proven to have supported or colluded with the Rapid Support Forces—whether commanders, financiers, or regional sponsors and instigators—emphasising that the Court has the legal jurisdiction to pursue all those involved in these crimes, regardless of their location or country of residence.

He also urged the ICC to investigate certain media outlets that, he said, played a dangerous role in whitewashing the militia’s crimes, downplaying their severity, and trivialising the suffering of victims, in blatant violation of media ethics and professional responsibility.

He pointed in particular to Sky News Arabia, stating that the channel, which is based in the state sponsoring the militia, had contributed to this misleading narrative.

“Justice will only be achieved by holding to account those who kill, those who finance, those who arm, and those who provide media cover for crimes and prolong them,” Ammar said. “We also demand the inclusion of those who incite the killing of civilians and the rape of women and girls, and those who support the Rapid Support Forces—some of whom reside in European countries.”

Ammar Mohammed Mahmoud stated that the RSF has carried out, and continues to carry out, killings of an ethnic and supremacist character, as well as systematic and widespread terror against defenceless civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, in addition to targeting cities and infrastructure with drones. He explained that the RSF, encouraged by its regional sponsors, planned to carry out a fully fledged act of genocide by imposing a suffocating siege on El-Fasher and starving its population for nearly two and a half years, culminating in a horrific massacre.

He added that the atrocities committed by the RSF “would not have occurred without the patronage, support, and encouragement it received from a sponsoring state you are aware of, which provided it with military, financial, political, logistical, and media backing.”

Ammar noted that Sudan continues to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, as the Office of the Prosecutor conducted a visit to the country from 29 July to 11 August 2025. He also stated that Sudan’s Attorney General, in his capacity as Chair of the Committee on War Crimes and Violations of International Humanitarian Law, visited The Hague in December 2025 following the capture of El-Fasher, in order to enhance cooperation and intensify information exchange.

He further explained that Sudan has responded to several requests from the ICC Prosecutor’s Office, and preparations are underway for an anticipated visit by a delegation from the Office of the Prosecutor to internally displaced persons’ camps in certain areas of Sudan to meet witnesses who experienced the attack on El-Fasher.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=10575