Sudan's Khartoum slammed for 'inhumane' jails
The United Nations decried Thursday a widespread pattern of arbitrary detention and "harrowing torture" of detainees in Sudan's Khartoum State, with children among tens of thousands held without charge.
Presenting a new report on detention facilities in Khartoum State, the UN rights office described "deeply disturbing" findings it said mirrored practices seen in other conflict-affected areas of Sudan.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict with Sudan's army (SAF) since April 2023 in a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and uprooted more than 12 million people.
The rights office report, covering the period from the start of the war to last June, found that just in Khartoum State, "tens of thousands of people, including women and children, have been held without charge" by both sides.
The findings of "widespread practices of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and inhumane conditions of detention facilities, in contravention of international norms and standards, are deeply disturbing", UN rights chief Volker Turk stated.
"No individual should be deprived of their liberty without due process, nor -- under any circumstances whatsoever -- subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
The report was based on 34 interviews with former detainees, witnesses and family members, the rights office said.
Former detainees, it said, had shared credible accounts of "harrowing torture and ill treatment" in detention facilities, as well as "acute overcrowding with minimal ventilation".
"In RSF-controlled facilities, inadequate food and water led to malnutrition and preventable deaths, while denial of medical care resulted in high death rates from untreated illnesses and injuries," the report said, also describing reports of similar "preventable deaths in custody" in SAF detention facilities.
The rights office said it had also documented the use of children as young as 14 to serve as guards in RSF-controlled detention facilities, even as children as young as 13 were being held alongside adults.
The report also highlighted reports of sexual violence and exploitation against women detainees in two RSF-controlled places of detention.
Discriminatory treatment based on ethnicity and perceived affiliation was also reported in detention facilities run by both sides, it said.
"These practices are deeply concerning. They increase the risks of violations of international human rights norms and standards and undermine due process and the rule of law," Turk warned.
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