Published on 6/14/2026
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Last update: 15:00 (Mecca time)
The Sudanese government accused the Rapid Support Forces of running an organized network for human organ trafficking inside Digris and Shalla prisons, in El Fasher, the capital of South Darfur state, where they hold about 20,000 military and civilian detainees, according to government estimates, which was denied by sources from the Rapid Support Forces.
In a letter addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of the Security Council Leonor Zapata Torres, Al-Harith Idris, Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, accused the support forces of running a human organ trafficking network inside the prison.
Degrees prison
According to the letter, which was seen by Al Jazeera Net, the Sudanese government is in possession of reports revealing the management of an organized human organ trafficking network in Degrees prison, in which foreign medical personnel suspected of holding both Colombian and Serbian nationalities were involved.
According to the letter, the victims from the military, the joint forces of the Darfur movements, and civilians are being transferred under the pretext of their release, to be later handed over to foreign elements in Nyala to remove their organs, and then the bodies are buried at the headquarters of the 16th Infantry Division “to obliterate the evidence.”
The Sudanese delegate’s message indicates that there are 19,800 detainees held by the Rapid Support Forces in Degrees Prison in Nyala, including 3,795 members of the Sudanese army, 4,270 police, and about 10,500 civilians, including hundreds of women.
It was revealed that detainees in Degrees prison suffer from systematic ill-treatment and torture, including electric shocks and extinguishing cigarette butts on their bodies, amid reports of severe scarcity of food and drinking water, the spread of diseases and medical neglect.
According to the numbers included in the aforementioned letter, these conditions in Deqris Prison cause the death of more than 4 detainees every week as a result of hunger, disease, and the spread of diseases, especially cholera.
Chala prison
In Shala prison, which has been controlled by the Support Forces, since October 2025, the letter addressed to the United Nations revealed that the Support Forces are detaining 881 soldiers, 407 civilians, and dozens of children under the age of eighteen.
The letter states that civilian detainees suffered severe wounds and fractures as a result of the bombing launched by the Rapid Support Forces on the city of El Fasher, confirming the death of dozens of injured detainees in the past two months as a result of the infection of their wounds and the lack of medical care.
On the other hand, the letter indicated that the Rapid Support Forces leave the bodies of the deceased in prison for long periods and force prisoners to bury their colleagues themselves in the western courtyard, 400 meters from the prison.
The letter also stated that the Rapid Support Forces carried out death sentences on detainees, the most recent of which was the execution of 15 wounded civilians in the Al-Rashid Interior Ministry for students at Al-Fasher University, which the forces use as a military barracks.
The Sudanese government called on the Security Council, the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to open an investigation into suspicions of trafficking in human organs, torture, and executions in Degris and Shalla prisons.
Express support denies
On the other hand, an official in the Rapid Support Media Office denied the accusations contained in the government’s memorandum to the United Nations, stressing that they were “fabricated by army intelligence and the remnants of the former regime and aim to distort the reputation of the forces and destroy their image.”
The official – who requested to remain anonymous in statements to Al Jazeera Net – revealed that the Rapid Support Commander, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), last December assigned a committee headed by a prosecutor, Ahmed Al-Nour Al-Hala, to review the conditions of all detainees in the prisons and detention centers of his forces.
He pointed out that Hemedti directed the release of everyone whose involvement in hostile acts against the Rapid Support Forces was not proven by preliminary investigations, in addition to the release of the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
According to the official, hundreds have been released, and the review committee confirmed that there are no violations in Diqris prison or elsewhere, where detainees, both prisoners and civilians, receive all their rights to food and medical care guaranteed by international humanitarian law.
The official confirmed that the Rapid Support Forces prisons are open to human rights organizations that wish to search for the truth, and will provide protection and facilitate access for any party that wants to verify the conditions of prisoners and detainees.
Last March, the Rapid Support Forces released 260 detainees from Deqris prison, in the first mass release from one of the largest prisons run by the forces in the west of the country, denying that any violations had occurred in its prisons.
