Investigation: Thousands of civilians detained in outlaw RSF militia detention centers in Gezira and Khartoum

Investigation: Hanan Kisha

Survivors of the kidnapping by the outlaw Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia revealed the tragic conditions experienced by detainees in the militia’s detention centers. They said, during an investigation conducted by (Sudanese Echoes) that thousands of civilians are detained in dozens of detention centers of the militia in both Gezira and Khartoum states.

Beating and Torture

A sixty-government employee, who was detained in an RSF detention center last January and released for a ransom, said that he was abducted when he tried to go to take some personal belongings from his office and detained for three days, during which he underwent all kinds of beatings and torture and suffered a profound wound in his head. He revealed that the militia members, who interrogated him, tried to force him to admit that he was affiliated with the military intelligence, adding that he was released after paying sums of money amounting to three million pounds, or approximately ($1000).

Unknown Fate

In the same context, the Sudanese Observatory for Human Rights revealed the release of three citizens who were arrested in the city of Hasahisa three months ago and were transferred to Soba Prison, one of the militia’s detention centers. The detainees were subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and detention in harsh and inhumane conditions.

Citizen Samia Mohammed – a pseudonym for a citizen who fears for her life from being killed because she is in areas controlled by the militia – revealed to (Sudanese Echoes) that her cousin was abducted in front of the house in one of the villages of Gezira and taken to an unknown location since mid-August of the last year, without knowing his whereabouts or fate.
Moreover, one of the survivors of the insurgent RSF detention centers – we refer to him with the letters (SN) – uncovered that he was kidnapped from his home by the outlaw RSF militia and was thrown into a detention center. He stated that there are dozens of detention centers in the Riyadh neighborhood in Khartoum alone.

Official reports

Official reports obtained by (Sudanese Echoes) affirmed that the Rapid Support Forces arrested dozens of citizens in the city of Hasahisa and detained them for varying periods, and released them after bargaining with them to pay (ransom), which amounts to large sums of money that many are unable to pay. The reports confirmed that those who are unable to pay the ransom are transferred to Soba Prison, and several cases of which have been documented.

Detention Centers

According to the testimonies of a number of former detainees who spoke to the Sudanese Observatory for Human Rights, the insurgent Rapid Support Forces converted one of the buildings of the Suwar Textile Factory in Hasahisa into a detention and investigation center, in which dozens of people are being detained in poor conditions an overcrowded room where they are tortured daily. The detention center includes detainees from the city of Hasahisa and the surrounding villages.

Sexual Exploitation

In the same context, a member of the Sudanese Association for Victims of Enforced Disappearance, the Lawyer Osman Al-Basri, revealed that they conducted interviews with survivors of kidnapping, whose testimonies confirmed that the outlaw Rapid Support Forces abducted a number of civilians to demand (ransom) from their families in exchange for their release, nevertheless, they were not released unless the extortion was completed. The interviews also showed the existence of a large number of women, who were forcibly disappeared for reasons of sexual exploitation, performing household chores, forced marriage, or also extortion and demanding ransom. Al-Basri acknowledges the inability of the prosecution, despite recording reports of the disappearance of many people, to conduct sufficient searches to find out the fate of the disappeared.