New York, January 20 (Darfur24)
The Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shamim Khan, said that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher, citing information and evidence collected by the Court, particularly regarding events in late October.
Briefing the UN Security Council on the situation in Sudan, Khan warned that “Darfur is currently experiencing mass torture.” She stated that the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was accompanied by a systematic and organized campaign of extreme suffering targeting non-Arab communities, including rape, arbitrary arrests, executions, and the discovery of mass graves.
She said videos analyzed by the Office of the Prosecutor show patterns of crimes similar to those previously documented in other parts of Darfur, including the detention, ill-treatment, and killing of people from non-Arab tribes. She added that RSF members were seen celebrating summary executions and desecrating bodies.
Khan also referred to ongoing investigations into the 2023 events in El Geneina, noting that eyewitnesses provided evidence of attacks on displacement camps, looting, indiscriminate targeting of civilians, arbitrary arrests, gender-based crimes, and violations against children.
“The evidence shows that patterns of atrocities across El Geneina in 2023 were repeated in El Fasher in 2025. This criminality is being repeated in town after town in Darfur,” she said, warning that such violations will continue as long as conflict and impunity persist.
She further stated that sexual violence, including rape, is being used as a weapon of war in Darfur, stressing that systematic investigation of these crimes remains a key priority for the Court.
Khan also referred to reports of alleged crimes committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces in Darfur, emphasizing that all parties to the conflict must comply with international law and refrain from targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.