Sudan’s Anti-Terrorism Court on Sunday sentenced the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, to death in absentia after finding him guilty of genocide and other crimes committed during the conflict that has devastated the country since 2023.
The court’s ruling was announced during a hearing at the judicial complex in Port Sudan, a northeastern area under the control of the Sudanese Army. Court president Al Maamun al Jawad declared that Hemedti, two of his brothers, and 13 other defendants had been convicted and sentenced to death. In Sudan, death sentences are carried out by hanging.
The verdict also found the defendants responsible for the killing of former West Darfur governor Jamis Abdalá Akbar, who was kidnapped and dismembered on June 14, 2023, shortly after accusing the RSF of committing widespread abuses and genocide in the region.
The court convicted the defendants under provisions of the Sudanese Penal Code related to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape, looting, forced displacement, and incitement to hatred. The case was brought against RSF figures accused of committing serious violations during the fighting that began in 2023.
During the hearing, Judge Al Maamun al Jawad said the convicted individuals had killed “thousands of people of the African Masalit ethnicity” in a systematic manner. He also accused them of destroying residential areas in Al Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, committing sexual violence, looting shops and banks, burying people alive, preventing the evacuation of wounded individuals, and forcibly displacing thousands of people.
Because the convicted individuals remain at large, the court ordered coordination with Interpol to seek their detention in any country where they are found, return them to Sudan, and confiscate RSF properties.
The Anti-Terrorism Court began proceedings in April 2025 after receiving the case file from the National Commission of Inquiry on Crimes and Violations of National Legislation and International Humanitarian Law. The court was established to conduct trials in absentia against RSF members accused in the case.
Alongside Hemedti, those sentenced include his brothers Abdulrahim and Al Goni, as well as former RSF commander for West Darfur Abdulrahman Yuma. Other senior RSF officials named among the accused include Tiyani al Tahir Karshoum Bellah, Idris Hassan Ibrahim Harun, and Hamdan al Gali Asil.
The convictions come as Sudan remains embroiled in a war between the Sudanese Army and the RSF, a conflict that has continued to generate allegations of widespread human rights violations and abuses across several regions of the country.
