Behind closed doors and within places transformed into scenes of suffering lie the stories of Sudanese survivors who emerged from wartime detention centers bearing physical scars and painful memories that words can scarcely describe.
Those who survived recount days marked by fear, torture, and abuse, while many others never returned from behind those walls.
A Harrowing Experience
Faisal, who spoke to Al Jazeera, is one of the survivors. However, he is no longer able to tell his story with his own voice.
His ordeal left him unable to speak, breathe, or swallow normally. The war also cost him his home and his livelihood.
Unable to vocalize the details of his suffering, Faisal chose instead to write down his testimony, saying that what he endured inside Rapid Support Forces (RSF) detention facilities changed his life forever.
Faisal’s experience was not unique. He shared a prison cell with thousands of detainees who endured harsh conditions during an entire year of captivity. Some eventually emerged severely emaciated and physically broken after prolonged abuse, while others never made it out alive.
Left Among the Dead
Another survivor, Adam, recalled being left among bodies after his captors believed he had died under torture. He survived to bear witness to another account of the brutality endured inside the detention centers.
Adam said he was unable to move when he was discovered, having sustained severe injuries across his body.
He explained that one passerby fled in fear after seeing his condition before others came to his aid and transported him to a hospital.
Detention Sites
Although no definitive figures exist for the number of torture victims in Sudan, international reports have documented detention facilities and mass graves, including a site in northern Khartoum where hundreds of detainees were allegedly subjected to torture and starvation inside RSF detention centers.
Sudanese government authorities have also reported documenting thousands of cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, in addition to incidents of conflict-related sexual violence during the war.
A Call for Accountability
On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the walls of these detention centers continue to bear the marks of those who passed through them. Survivors hope their testimonies will become more than stories of suffering and instead contribute to meaningful accountability and justice after enduring one of the harshest experiences of the conflict.
