Khartoum ‘one big prison’, people ‘tortured to death’ by Sudan Military Intelligence

The Emergency Lawyers documented a record number of detention centres inside wider Khartoum, mainly from the RSF, and lamented the “horrific escalation” of arbitrary detentions and torture. Some detainees even died as a result of the poor conditions and violations. In South Kordofan, three people were allegedly tortured to death inside Military Intelligence detention centres.

The Emergency Lawyers have documented at least 47 detention centres affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and eight detention centres affiliated with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in wider Khartoum. These are both temporary and permanent centres.

In their report released yesterday, the lawyers said that the capital, including Khartoum, Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri), and Omdurman, has “turned into one large prison for the remaining civilians there”.

Arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances are ‘increasing horrifically’. Detainees are subjected to various forms of torture and cruel treatment, including starvation, sexual assaults, and even death inside the detention centres.

The report monitored a series of other violent incidents that can be classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, kidnapping, unlawful detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and rape.

The lawyers listed 13 RSF detention centres in Khartoum, 12 in Khartoum North, five in Sharg El Nil (East Nile), and 17 in Omdurman, in addition to temporary interrogation points in police stations and public facilities under their control.

There are three army detention centres in Khartoum and five in Omdurman.

The detention centres are of poor quality. In one example given by the lawyers, roughly 200 detainees were held in some detention centres in the basement of a residential building of roughly 300 square meters. The detainees suffered from a lack of ventilation and high humidity, which caused a number of deaths.

Detainees are subjected to torture and forced to do hard labour. Detainees were also subjected to starvation as they were provided with only one meal a day, consisting of one piece of bread. There are no latrines in the detention centres.

Both men and women have been sexually assaulted, according to the group.

Women and children have also been detained in a number of centres affiliated with both parties, where they were put in the same rooms as the rest of the detainees, the lawyers reported.

The Emergency Lawyers said that the report findings were based on thorough fieldwork by lawyers and volunteers over a period of two months, in all seven localities of Khartoum state. They interviewed 22 sources.

Their report has been handed over to a number of international bodies.

Rehab Sayed Ahmed, a member of the Emergency Lawyers, told Radio Dabanga that the group will continue to monitor violations and hand over reports to competent regional and international human rights bodies, such as the International Criminal Court and the African Court.

The lawyers’ group had earlier asked the Red Cross to monitor the crimes taking place in Nyala.

Tortured to death

Three people died as a result of severe torture inside Sudanese Military Intelligence centres in Kadugli, South Kordofan.

Relatives of the victims told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the intelligence services held Abdel Mohsen Mudasir, Sakak Nato, and Alaaeldin Hasan in the Kargal area, located between Delling and Kadugli, last July after the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North took control of the area.

The relatives of the victims received news of their deaths on Saturday and explained that the three had been subjected to severe torture inside the Military Intelligence centres in Kadugli.