Soudan : ce que l’on sait de la vidéo d’une femme pendue par les bras
A video of a Sudanese woman hanging by her arms from a tree branch in Darfur has been circulating online since September 10. The young woman reportedly died as a result of this torture. The Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group engaged in the civil war against the Sudanese army, have been blamed by NGOs and independent investigators.
The images are hard to bear: a 38-second video shows a young woman in a red dress hanging by her arms from a tree branch. Her feet are also tied. She paces back and forth, spinning around. For two seconds, the filming phone appears to switch to selfie mode, revealing the face of a man in a camouflage T-shirt who displays no particular emotion. This man has been identified as a fighter in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group engaged in the civil war against the Sudanese army, by several accounts and media outlets.
The video was shared by several accounts following the Sudanese civil war, which expressed outrage and investigated it, including @HkZuk , @EastKordofan , and @Sudan_tweet . It has been circulating since September 10, with none of the sources relaying it appearing to be the original. It was therefore likely leaked, and it is not possible to establish the exact date it was filmed.
However, several media outlets and online investigators quickly claimed that the victim's name was Qisma Ali Omar, which was confirmed by the Ministry of Social Protection – which is in the hands of the army, which holds power in Sudan and is engaged in the conflict against the Rapid Support Forces – as well as by the Sudanese lawyers' group Emergency Lawyers in a press release on September 12.
According to the same sources, the young woman was arrested by the Rapid Support Forces, who accused her of being linked to a group allied with the Sudanese army. These sources claim that she is dead. The victim's family posted and quickly removed a tribute to Qisma Ali Omar on social media. Contacted by the Observers editorial team, Mohamed Salah Bonawi, a member of the Sudanese group Emergency Lawyers, added:
"No independent judicial report specifies whether death occurred directly as a result of torture or after she was left hanging, but the video shows that torture led to her death."
Selfies in FSR uniform
While it's unclear where the video leaked from, several online investigator and media accounts quickly claimed to have identified the man in the video. They point to a TikTok profile named Abdallah al-Saka. According to Egyptian fact-checking outlet
, a search using facial recognition tools pointed to the same account.Since April 21, 2025, this profile has been posting videos mostly showing the same man, in military uniform, often driving pickup trucks. In several of them, he wears the uniform with the Rapid Support Forces labeled on it. In others, he clearly mentions the paramilitary group. While he had been posting almost daily since April—143 videos in total—he has not uploaded any content since August 29.
The Rapid Support Forces responded to the accusations against them in a statement released on September 11. The paramilitaries acknowledged that the man was wearing "the distinctive military uniform of our forces" but "categorically deny any connection between their personnel and the video, and assert that the entire scene is a naive media fabrication aimed at distorting the image of our forces and spreading false accusations of torture." They added that "these accusations have nothing to do with [their] morality."
Based on the latest videos posted by the TikTok account, Matsda2sh was also able to establish that they were filmed in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur. One of the videos, which reads "Greetings from Zalingei," shows a man in a pickup truck maneuvering in front of a military base, which reads "Rapid Support Forces," near a bridge in Zalingei. It is believed to be a former army base, used by the RSF since they took control of the city.
However, while the man most likely filmed himself next to the victim as she was hanging from a tree, there is no independent evidence to suggest whether he was the one who hung her or to what extent he was responsible for her death.
The RSF have controlled Zalingei since the fall of 2023, as part of the civil war that began on April 15 of that year. They now control a large part of Darfur.
"No legal proceedings can be initiated due to the security control exercised by the Rapid Support Forces"
This situation compromises the prospect of an independent investigation into this case, believes Mohamed Salah Bonawi of Emergency Lawyers:
"To date, no independent official investigation has been conducted and no legal proceedings can be initiated at the local level due to the security control exercised by the Rapid Support Forces in the region. Emergency Lawyers' findings are therefore the result of direct legal and media documentation of the incident. This crime is part of a recurring pattern of violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians, particularly women and the most vulnerable groups."
According to Emergency Lawyers, the torture of Qisma Ali Omar should be classified as a crime against humanity.
In early September, the UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan released a report finding both the army and the RSF guilty of war crimes.
Commentaires (12)
Le summum de la connerie humaine
non, c'est pas vrai.
C est toujours les peuples qui trinquent a cause de batardes créatures liées à d autres bâtards étrangers.
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