A court in Port Sudan on Sunday, 12 July 2026 sentenced Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and 15 others to death in absentia on charges including the killing of a regional governor and war crimes committed in Darfur, according to the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
Those sentenced include two of Hemedti’s brothers, RSF deputy leader Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo and Al Qoni Hamdan Dagalo, along with several RSF officers and tribal leaders from Arab communities in West Darfur. The court convicted Hemedti and the other defendants of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and attacks on civilians and public facilities, SUNA reported.
The landmark ruling, issued by the Anti-Terrorism and Crimes Against the State Court in Port Sudan, is the first against the leadership of the RSF since war broke out between the group and the Sudanese army in April 2023.
The case centres on the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abbakar in June 2023, shortly after the RSF seized Al Geneina, the state capital. Abbakar was killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of carrying out attacks against civilians.
United Nations experts and monitors estimate that up to 15,000 people were killed in El Geneina, West Darfur, during the ethnically targeted violence carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias. The UN reported that the targeted attacks and ethnic cleansing against the non-Arab Masalit community left up to 15,000 dead in the city.
The RSF has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and other war crimes.
The court said it would refer the case to the Supreme Court for review and seek the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international channels.
Following the Sudanese revolution, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and Hemedti jointly led the country through the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), a military-civilian body tasked with overseeing the transition to democratic elections in 2022. However, in October 2021, the pair orchestrated a military coup that derailed Sudan’s transition to civilian rule. They later fell out over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, a dispute that ultimately escalated into the outbreak of war on 15 April 2023, triggering one of the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crises. An estimated 12 to 14 million people have been displaced, and over 150,000 have been killed. Both sides have been accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law, some of which may amount to war crimes, including sexual violence against women and girls.
