ICC documents militia atrocities in El Fasher, and Khartoum, demands the arrest of the perpetrators
The Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shamim Khan, stated that the Office of the Prosecutor believes war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher, western Sudan, particularly in late October, based on the information and evidence gathered.
In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Monday regarding the situation in Darfur, Shamim Khan warned that “Darfur is currently experiencing mass torture.” She explained that the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces was accompanied by a systematic and organized campaign of extreme suffering, specifically targeting non-Arab communities, and including rape, arbitrary arrests, executions, and mass graves.
The Sudanese government is calling for the arrest of the perpetrators. She added, “The videos analyzed by the Office show a pattern similar to crimes previously seen, allegedly committed by perpetrators in other parts of Darfur, including the detention, abuse, and killing of people from non-Arab tribes. Members of the Rapid Support Forces are shown celebrating summary executions and then desecrating the bodies.”
She reported that eyewitnesses interviewed by the Office provided evidence of attacks against camps for internally displaced persons, looting, indiscriminate targeting of civilians, arrests, gender-based violence, and crimes against children in El Geneina.
She continued, “The evidence shows that the patterns of atrocities seen throughout El Geneina in 2023 were repeated in El Fasher in 2025, and this criminality is being repeated in city after city in Darfur. This situation will continue until this conflict and the sense of impunity that fuels it are brought to an end.” She emphasized that the Court’s investigations continue to face significant obstacles, including limited access to relevant witnesses and a lack of secure access to crime scenes.
Sudan’s Position
In response to this briefing, Minister Plenipotentiary Ammar Mohamed Mahmoud stated that the crimes committed in Darfur “require the Court to expedite the indictment and issuance of arrest warrants against the implicated leaders, some of whom have publicly appeared on camera documenting their crimes.”
In his address to the session, he noted that the delay in exercising the Court’s criminal jurisdiction raises questions about the commission of genocide in El Fasher, North Darfur, twice since 2023.
He further explained that the Court has not issued arrest warrants for the accused, despite the passage of two years since the crimes committed in El Geneina, West Darfur, and the availability of witnesses and evidence. He added: “The delay fuels the perpetrators’ sense of impunity, encouraging them to continue committing more crimes, as happened in El Fasher. Had the court expedited the issuance of arrest warrants for those suspected in the El Geneina events, it might have been possible to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities in El Fasher and other areas.”
Ammar stressed the necessity for the court’s investigations to include all those proven to be involved in supporting or colluding with the Rapid Support Forces, whether commanders, financiers, or regional sponsors and instigators, especially since the court has the legal jurisdiction to prosecute all those involved in these crimes, regardless of their location or nationality.
The Minister Plenipotentiary called on the International Criminal Court to investigate certain media outlets that have played a dangerous role in whitewashing the militia’s crimes, downplaying its atrocities, and trivializing the suffering of the victims, in flagrant violation of media ethics and professional responsibility.
He pointed out that “Sky News Arabia, which is based in the state sponsoring the militia, played a role in this misleading campaign.” He continued: “Justice will only be achieved by holding accountable those who kill, those who finance, those who arm, and those who cover up and prolong these crimes through media manipulation. We also demand the inclusion of those who incite the killing of civilians, the rape of women and girls, and those who support the Rapid Support Forces, some of whom reside in European countries.”
Minister Plenipotentiary Ammar Mohamed Mahmoud stated that the Rapid Support Forces have carried out, and continue to carry out, ethnically motivated and supremacist killings, as well as systematic and widespread acts of intimidation targeting unarmed civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. He added that they have also targeted cities and infrastructure with marches. He explained that the Rapid Support Forces, with the encouragement of their regional backers, planned to commit a full-fledged genocide by imposing a suffocating siege on El Fasher and starving its inhabitants for nearly two and a half years, before this criminal policy culminated in a horrific massacre.
Ammar stated that the atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces “would not have occurred without the sponsorship, support, and encouragement they received from a state sponsoring them, which you are aware of, providing them with military, financial, political, logistical, and media backing.” He noted that Sudan continues its cooperation with the International Criminal Court, with the Office of the Prosecutor having visited the country from July 29 to August 11, 2025.
He added that the Sudanese Attorney General, in his capacity as head of the Commission on War Crimes and Violations of International Humanitarian Law, visited The Hague in December 2025, following the capture of El Fasher, to strengthen cooperation and intensify the exchange of information.
He explained that Sudan has responded to a number of requests from the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and that preparations are underway for a visit by a delegation from the Office of the Prosecutor to camps for internally displaced persons in some areas of Sudan to meet with witnesses who experienced the attack on El Fasher.