Sudan's RSF chief sentenced to death over war crimes
A Sudanese court sentenced Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, to death in absentia, along with 15 associates, over war crimes committed during Sudan’s conflict. Dagalo remains at large and outside government control, so the sentence is symbolic rather than enforceable for now.
The ruling is best read as a move by the army-aligned authorities to formally brand the RSF leadership as war criminals while the fighting continues, rather than as the outcome of a settled legal process. It runs parallel to separate international efforts — including a UN inquiry that concluded RSF abuses in Darfur amount to genocide — but a domestic conviction handed down by one side in an active civil war carries limited weight on its own. Its practical effect depends on whether the RSF is ultimately defeated or negotiated with, and on whether any body with the power to detain Dagalo chooses to act.