Detainees who disappeared after their arrest.. Testimonies speak of the removal of human organs

With the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, thousands of families began a flight that did not know where it would end. Safety nets have collapsed, the state's ability to protect civilians has dissipated, and survival routes have turned into paths full of dangers.

In this security vacuum, the danger is no longer limited to bombing and clashes. Displacement, asylum, detention and smuggling have created an environment that has allowed multiple forms of exploitation to emerge, from human trafficking and refugee extortion to more serious allegations, such as trafficking in human organs.

Here a basic question arises: How did the organ trade narrative emerge in Sudan? What was it based on?

In fact, this narrative did not only begin with the accusations made by the Sudanese government in June 2026, but was preceded by incidents that raised increasing questions about the fate of detainees inside Degris Prison in the city of Nyala.

On June 24, 2026, the Sudan Doctors Network announced the death of more than 215 civilians inside the prison during the months of May and June as a result of diseases, epidemics, torture, ill-treatment, and lack of health care. She also spoke about the transfer of 31 detainees, including children, to Nyala Hospital before their fate became unknown.

How did the organ trafficking allegations arise?

Weeks later, the Commission for Justice announced that it had documented the death of more than 215 detainees inside Degrees Prison during the same period, also confirming the fact that 31 detainees were transferred to Nyala Hospital and their subsequent disappearance.

The organization relied on information indicating continued detention in conditions that it described as not meeting the minimum health and humanitarian standards, with repeated reports of ill-treatment and deprivation of detainees from medical care.

At the same time, the United Nations documented patterns of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance in Sudan, warning of the deteriorating conditions of civilians and continued violations against detainees.

These facts, in addition to the large numbers of deaths and disappearances in places of detention, have contributed to creating a fertile environment for the spread of accounts and testimonies of more serious violations.

In this context, allegations related to organ trade were not limited to the accusations made by the Sudanese government, but were also adopted by some Sudanese organizations and activists. Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Ismail, head of the Mashad Organization, said in an interview with DW Arabia, "The organization documented what he described as indications of operations to remove human organs in Degrees prison in the city of Nyala."

He added that the organization monitored about 1,700 cases that it said had similar indicators, based on testimonies and information it collected during its field and medical work. He explained that the indicators that the organization spoke about relate to the removal of organs, including kidneys, without the consent of their owners or relatives, according to his account.

Between prisons and hospitals

Ismail also linked these indicators to the control of health facilities in Nyala, noting that the Turkish hospital had become under the management of entities linked to the Rapid Support Forces, according to his account.

There are consistent testimonies about some detainees being subjected to surgical operations suspected of removing human organs, including kidneys and other organs, without the will and consent of the detainees. This information was linked, according to the testimonies and data collected by the Observatory, to Shala Prison in the city of El Fasher and Deqris Prison in the city of Nyala. The Observatory considers these facts, when proven judicially, to be among the most serious violations to which a person can be exposed.

The Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS reported that some foreign military contractors working with the Rapid Support Forces performed security and medical tasks in addition to their military roles, and some of them also participated in preparing for the rehabilitation of at least three hospitals in areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, according to sources who spoke to the newspaper. Alaa Naqoud, Minister of Health of the Rapid Support Government, also confirmed that there are plans to renovate existing hospitals, create new facilities, and seek the help of foreign experts.

Ismail added that the monitoring teams of the MASHAD organization also spoke about the presence of foreign or international doctors in the region. He also pointed out that the Rapid Support Forces took control of health facilities in Nyala, including the Turkish Hospital, according to his account.

Ismail said, "The organization was able to help transport more than 110 people to South Sudan and Chad, and that it conducted interviews with male and female survivors, including a 16-year-old girl, and a patient who mentioned that she heard from an interpreter that her health condition was good, and that a sample was taken from her before she underwent surgery."

She added that she doubted that she had had her uterus removed, after she later read in her medical papers that the operation performed on her was a uterus removal operation, while the organization was trying to expel her to South Sudan, according to Ismail.

Ismail added that the doctors that the organization spoke about were of different nationalities, and that, according to him, the monitoring teams had seen passport photos of some people. He continued, saying: "Until this moment, we are still receiving new cases that are being monitored."

Ismail confirms that the humanitarian conditions in Darfur are deplorable, adding that the organization’s monitoring indicates more than a thousand detainees inside a single cell in Degris Prison.

Does the evidence support the story?

In parallel with these testimonies, in June 2026, the Sudanese government had directly accused the Rapid Support Forces of running an organized organ trafficking network inside detention centers in Darfur, based on what it said were reports and information it possessed about the conditions of detainees inside those prisons.

In the midst of these accusations and testimonies, other data also emerged that raised more questions about what is happening inside the conflict areas.

Analysis of satellite images conducted by the Humanitarian Affairs Laboratory at Yale University in cooperation with the Associated Press indicated that white objects were detected inside the Saudi Hospital campus and near the Children’s Hospital in El Fasher. The laboratory concluded that they may be bodies, but these images do not in themselves provide direct evidence of the nature of the deaths or the party responsible for them.

But these allegations, serious as they are, in turn raise fundamental questions about the evidence available for independent verification. Are there medical records, autopsy reports, or direct testimonies from survivors or health workers confirming that organ removal operations occurred? Or is what is available so far limited to testimonies, accounts, and information that has not yet been subjected to an independent investigation whose results can be verified?

Until now, there appears to be a gap between documented facts related to deaths and disappearances inside detention centers, and proof of the existence of an organized network for organ trafficking in accordance with criminal investigation standards and verifiable evidence.

Sudan, war and trafficking networks

In an attempt to understand the broader context that allowed such accusations to emerge, Dr. Umayyah Youssef, Director of the Sudanese Center for Human Rights, told DW Arabia, “Sudan has known for years the activity of cross-border networks linked to human trafficking, by virtue of its geographical location and its connection to a number of neighboring countries, which in turn suffer from conflicts and political instability.”

Youssef points out that Sudanese justice and security institutions were pursuing these networks to varying degrees before the outbreak of war, but the ongoing conflict since April 2023 has created a more suitable environment for their work. With the closure of a number of official crossings and the disruption of state institutions in large areas of the country, many Sudanese themselves were forced to resort to irregular routes of migration and displacement, which are the same routes in which human trafficking and smuggling networks are active.

He adds that many state institutions and regular agencies withdrew or lost their ability to work in areas that witnessed military confrontations, including parts of Khartoum, Al-Jazira, Sennar, and other border areas, which led to a decline in security and legal oversight and opened the way for greater activity of smuggling and human trafficking networks.

Youssef also confirms that the conditions of detainees in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces raise major human rights concerns, pointing to reports of cases of detention, forced disappearances, and violations against civilians, former military personnel, and members of the regular forces.

However, Youssef points out the need to distinguish between serious and documented violations on the one hand, and accusations related to organ trafficking on the other hand, stressing that the latter requires independent criminal and medical evidence that can be verified before arriving at final conclusions.

Nyala... between allegations and facts

In April 2026, the UN Security Council included Colombian businessman Mateo Andres Duque Botero on the sanctions list related to Sudan, accusing him of playing a pivotal role in financing and coordinating the work of former Colombian military personnel who provided the Rapid Support Forces with expertise in infantry, artillery, drones, and military training. However, the sanctions documents do not include any references to medical activity or allegations of organ trafficking.

International documents prove the existence of a network of Colombian military contractors within areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, including the city of Nyala.

However, a review of the documents and reports published so far has not revealed the name of a single Colombian doctor, employment document, travel record, or financial evidence linking the medical personnel referred to by the government to the Colombian military contractors whose presence in Sudan has been documented. Thus, the most important link in this story, that is, the direct link between the Colombian contractors and the allegations of organ trafficking, remains unproven with the public evidence available so far.

Thus, the question remains open: Do the documented deaths and disappearances in detention centers lead to the exposure of an organized organ trafficking network, or is the matter still within the scope of testimonies and allegations that have not yet been resolved with independent, verifiable forensic evidence?