{"id":44383,"date":"2025-03-10T19:10:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=44383"},"modified":"2025-03-10T19:10:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:10:53","slug":"a-prisoner-tells-the-story-of-his-escape-from-the-horrors-of-militia-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/10\/a-prisoner-tells-the-story-of-his-escape-from-the-horrors-of-militia-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prisoner Tells the Story of His Escape from the Horrors of Militia Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report by: Abdel-Baqi Al-Zafir<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United Nations Human Rights Commission revealed last Thursday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have detained more than 10,000 people in detention centers across Khartoum State. These detainees were distributed among approximately 40 facilities, where hundreds have died due to torture and disease.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s report covers the period from the beginning of the war on April 15, 2023, to June 2024, exposing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law within these detention centers.<\/p>\n

Similarly, a report published by The Guardian<\/em> provided evidence that more than 500 people were tortured or starved to death in one detention center and were subsequently buried in a secret mass grave north of Khartoum, near the Qari military base, which was under RSF control until January 25.<\/p>\n

A visit to the base\u2014about 70 km (40 miles) away\u2014shortly after the Sudanese army regained control revealed an unknown detention center. Shackles hanging from doors and bloodstains on the floor suggested that the rooms had been used for torture.<\/p>\n

The Atrocities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Survivors of the detention center reported being subjected to repeated torture by their captors. Near the center, a large burial site contains numerous bodies of detainees who died under torture. At least 550 unmarked graves have been found, many freshly dug. Doctors who examined the survivors identified countless signs of torture and concluded that they had been starved.<\/p>\n

The site is the largest known temporary burial ground in Sudan since the war began. Human Rights Watch<\/em>, which has investigated violations across the country, described the detention center as \u201cone of the largest scenes of brutal crimes discovered in Sudan since the war began\u201d and called on the United Nations to allow war crimes investigators to access the site.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hisham Al-Sheikh, who examined 135 men found there after the Sudanese Armed Forces reclaimed the site in late January, reported overwhelming clinical evidence of torture and chronic malnutrition. Speaking to The Guardian<\/em>, he noted that the men\u2014all civilians\u2014were deeply traumatized, with many unable to speak.<\/p>\n

Satellite imagery of a single-track road next to the base, taken weeks after the war started, showed no signs of burial activity. However, an image from May 25, 2024, revealed numerous mounds stretching over 200 meters.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Mohamed Amin, now stationed in Qari, stated, \u201cAll the bodies buried there belonged to people who perished at the base.\u201d A Sudanese army officer added that the detainees they found \u201chad their hands and feet tied together and were in extremely poor condition, with clear signs of torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jean-Baptiste Gallopin of Human Rights Watch<\/em> confirmed that Sudanese authorities, now in control of the base, have treated it as a potential war crime site and have taken immediate steps to secure and preserve evidence crucial for accountability. He described these efforts as \u201cvital.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Prisoner\u2019s Testimony<\/strong><\/p>\n

Al Jazeera Net<\/em> interviewed one of the surviving prisoners from the RSF detention centers, who requested anonymity as he had not received permission from his military unit to disclose his identity.<\/p>\n

Warrant Officer Othman recounted his ordeal, starting from the first day of the war. He had maintained contact with his military unit via phone and carried out assignments from his home in Al-Azhari, southern Khartoum, for nearly two months.<\/p>\n

Concerned for his wife, two young children, elderly father, and overburdened mother, he planned to move them away from RSF-controlled areas. Reports of looted homes, stolen cars, and escalating violence made him fear that his own family would be targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined that one day, the enemy itself would come knocking at my door,\u201d he said. \u201cThey gave me no chance to escape. They simply said, \u2018Othman, we need you at the RSF intelligence office.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Taken to a nearby location, he found that it was not an office but an unfinished house. His captors barely spoke, letting their whips do the questioning. \u201cThey beat me brutally. When I admitted, \u2018Yes, I am Othman, I serve in the armed forces,\u2019 it was enough to pause the torture\u2014for a while.\u201d He was detained there for five days.<\/p>\n

From there, he and a fellow captive were transferred to their first prison at the RSF headquarters in Al-Riyadh district, known as The Skeleton Building<\/em>. \u201cWe were crammed into a tiny room\u2014about 25 of us. A corner of the room had a bucket for relieving ourselves, with only a cloth for privacy. If it filled up before morning, we were forced to endure the stench.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were given only two meals a day\u2014corn porridge (Asida<\/em>), sometimes mixed with sugar in the morning and salt at night. Their daily water ration was six cups per person, sometimes even less. \u201cWe became emaciated, and lice infested our heads and bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cellmates and Death<\/strong><\/p>\n

Othman spoke of fellow prisoners:<\/p>\n