A man detained and tortured by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum has referred three Sudanese men in the UK to British counter-terrorism police, asking that they been investigated for alleged links to the paramilitary group.
Yaslam Altayeb, a Sudanese-Dutch resident of the UK, was seized by the RSF in April 2023 shortly after the war in Sudan broke out. He was held captive for 15 days.
As previously detailed by Middle East Eye, Altayeb was abused in captivity and witnessed other detainees being killed, tortured and humiliated. He was eventually released with the help of British and Dutch authorities.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing Altayeb reported three people with links to the RSF to SO15, the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, which is responsible for investigating terrorism, state-sponsored threats and war crimes.
One of those named is Faris al-Nour, who at the time of Altayeb’s detention was a media adviser to Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF leader commonly known as Hemedti.
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Altayeb, a businessman now involved in charity and advocacy work supporting Sudanese affected by war, says Nour spoke to Altayeb by phone during his detention and was involved in the affair.
Nour, who is alleged to spend significant time in London, was named in July as governor of Khartoum state in the RSF’s parallel government based in the western city of Nyala.
Though the RSF held significant areas of Khartoum after the war broke out, the Sudanese Armed Forces had forced the paramilitaries from all the capital’s surrounding state by the time Nour was named governor.
Also named is British citizen Abdelmonem al-Rabee, a taxi driver in Sheffield and RSF propagandist. Rabee’s accounts on TikTok, YouTube and X amassed tens of thousands of followers.
There he expressed support for the RSF, including the paramilitaries’ murderous rampages across Sudan, some of which have been described as acts of genocide by the United States and human rights groups.
‘There must be no comfort, no stage, and no safety for those responsible for genocide’
– Yaslam Altayeb
After the RSF seized the Darfur city of el-Fasher in October and its forces uploaded videos of paramilitaries massacring its inhabitants, Rabee was seen online urging the fighters to “kill as much as you want, but don’t film”.
Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed by the RSF in el-Fasher.
On 27 October, a day after the RSF took el-Fasher, Rabee appeared on a live broadcast alongside a fighter known as Abu Lulu, who had been seen in videos gunning unarmed people down.
Videos suggest Rabee has repeatedly visited Sudan in recent years, including areas under RSF control that would likely only be accessible following coordination with senior figures in the paramilitary.
The third Sudanese man named in the submission is Omran Abdallah. The UK resident has been interviewed in the media as an RSF representative.
During an interview with the BBC in March 2024, he downplayed reports of sexual abuse carried out by RSF fighters in Khartoum.
Altayeb said: “I call on SO15 to immediately investigate these individuals who are able to live and mobilise freely in the UK. There must be no comfort, no stage, and no safety for those responsible for genocide.”
‘An insult to justice’
Altayeb’s complaint suggests that Nour, Rabee and Abdallah can be investigated and prosecuted in the UK under the provisions of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for acts of torture.
He alleges that Nour was involved in his detention and the violent abuse he suffered and is filing his submission on behalf of other detainees who he witnessed being killed and tortured as well.
Altayeb also says that Rabee and Abdallah are liable as they have called on and incited RSF fighters to commit widespread crimes against civilians.
“Their presence here is not only an insult to justice – it is an act of cruelty toward their victims,” he said. “The Metropolitan Police has a duty to act and act swiftly.”
Altayeb, founder of a media network and a range of companies, previously described to MEE being held in inhuman conditions, where his diabetes worsened dangerously.
He now suffers from chronic pain in his back and neck as a result of being beaten and has been diagnosed with PTSD.
Altayeb has described watching the bodies of people summarily executed being taken from the detention centre he was held in Khartoum’s Riyadh neighbourhood to a mass grave.
‘I’m coming to kill you’: Life as a hostage of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces
Read More »
Recently, two mass graves containing thousands of bodies were discovered in the same area.
Sudan’s war broke out in April 2023 when tensions over a transitional political plan that would have folded the RSF into the regular military exploded into violence.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, 13 million displaced and Sudan is now divided between an internationally recognised government in Khartoum and the RSF’s rival administration in Darfur’s Nyala.
In July, Altayeb’s legal team submitted a formal application to the British and Dutch foreign ministries to sanction 23 men, including top RSF officials and two senior officers from the United Arab Emirates, the Sudanese paramilitary’s main patron.
Though it denies supporting the RSF, there is large and mounting evidence that the UAE provides the paramilitaries with weapons, funding and diplomatic support.
Altayeb’s campaign attracted support from MPs Andrew Mitchell and Iain Duncan Smith, as well as fellow former RSF detainee Siddig Ismail.
Following the storming of el-Fasher, the UK in December sanctioned four RSF leaders – including Hemedti – who the Foreign Office said were suspected of atrocities including mass killings, sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians.
Nour, Rabee and Abdallah were not among them, prompting Altayeb’s latest submission.
Rodney Dixon KC, the lawyer representing Altayeb, said: “We respectfully ask that the Metropolitan Police open an immediate and through investigation into the named individuals who are living freely without sanction in the UK.
“There is clear and obvious evidence that has been presented and should be acted upon without delay.”
