A court in the army-controlled Sudanese city of Port Sudan imposed death sentences in absentia on Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the Rapid Support Forces leader, and 15 co-defendants, according to state media reporting cited by Asharq Al-Awsat. The case addressed the death of Khamis Abbakar, who governed West Darfur and alleged crimes committed during the war in Darfur.
SUNA, the state news agency, said the convictions covered four categories: genocide, crimes against humanity, wartime offences and assaults directed at civilian people and public sites. Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, brother to the RSF chief and also his deputy, received the same sentence. Other defendants included military figures from the RSF and leaders of Arab tribal communities based in West Darfur. None of the defendants was present for the judgment.
The proceedings focused on Abbakar’s death in June 2023. He was killed shortly after the RSF captured El-Geneina, West Darfur’s capital, and hours after he publicly accused the RSF and allied militias of attacking civilians. The supplied report did not describe the evidence heard by the court or include a response from lawyers for those convicted.
The ruling was described as the first directed at the RSF leadership since fighting between the paramilitary organisation and Sudan’s army began in April 2023. The judiciary that issued it operates in territory controlled by the army, a circumstance relevant to assessing a judgment handed down against the army’s principal battlefield rival.
RSF leaders have repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide and other wartime crimes. United Nations experts, however, put the number killed in El-Geneina’s violence at no fewer than 10,000 and as many as 15,000, with most victims belonging to the Massalit ethnic group. That estimate describes the wider violence and is not, by itself, a finding about the individual criminal responsibility of each person sentenced.
The court said the case would go to Sudan’s Supreme Court for review. It also planned to pursue arrests and extraditions through Interpol and other international mechanisms, according to the account. The evidence does not establish whether any such request was issued or acted upon after the date.
Dagalo and army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had jointly led the 2021 coup that interrupted Sudan’s transition toward civilian government. Their later dispute over incorporating the RSF into the regular armed forces preceded the current war. By July 2026, the conflict had killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 11 million people, while producing what the United Nations called the world’s largest displacement and hunger emergencies. The July 12 judgment did not itself end the hostilities or put the absent defendants in custody.
