Forgotten and Sentenced to die: Sudan’s women caught between war
Fifteen Sudanese women — some as young as 18, others in their seventies — are facing execution by military courts operating in areas controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces. Legal experts and human rights defenders have described the proceedings as a dangerous abuse of power.
The women were arrested while fleeing areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They were later charged with espionage and collaboration — often without credible evidence, and sometimes based only on a phone contact or a social media post.
They were tried in makeshift courts inside military compounds in cities such as Atbara, Port Sudan, and Kassala. They were denied legal representation, transparency, and the right to appeal. The journalist behind this investigation conducted interviews with the detainees’ relatives, friends, lawyers, and activists following the case. She also obtained legal documents related to the trials, along with voice messages from the women themselves. Testimonies indicate that these proceedings function less as legal trials and more as instruments of intimidation — in a war where civilian women have become the invisible frontline.
In the absence of international oversight, and amid mounting calls to investigate rights violations, these women remain silenced, awaiting execution in makeshift cells.
“We are forgotten,” one of them said.
This investigation was published as part of the Women and Corruption project, with support from the Global Fund for Women. It was also published in collaboration with our partners at Al-Tageer newspaper in Sudan and was republished at least 15 times within the country. The investigation was widely circulated among lawyers, journalists, and human rights defenders, and it has even been discussed in courtrooms.
The women were arrested while fleeing areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They were later charged with espionage and collaboration — often without credible evidence, and sometimes based only on a phone contact or a social media post.
They were tried in makeshift courts inside military compounds in cities such as Atbara, Port Sudan, and Kassala. They were denied legal representation, transparency, and the right to appeal. The journalist behind this investigation conducted interviews with the detainees’ relatives, friends, lawyers, and activists following the case. She also obtained legal documents related to the trials, along with voice messages from the women themselves. Testimonies indicate that these proceedings function less as legal trials and more as instruments of intimidation — in a war where civilian women have become the invisible frontline.
In the absence of international oversight, and amid mounting calls to investigate rights violations, these women remain silenced, awaiting execution in makeshift cells.
“We are forgotten,” one of them said.
This investigation was published as part of the Women and Corruption project, with support from the Global Fund for Women. It was also published in collaboration with our partners at Al-Tageer newspaper in Sudan and was republished at least 15 times within the country. The investigation was widely circulated among lawyers, journalists, and human rights defenders, and it has even been discussed in courtrooms.
