Verifying Sudan’s Khartoum Massacre

Almost two months after President Omar al-Bashir stepped down as dictator after 30 years, Sudanese security forces attacked pro-democracy protesters near Sudan’s military headquarters in Khartoum on June 3, 2019. In partnership with the Sudanese Archive and Physicians for Human Rights, Investigations Lab identified where and how security forces used violence against protestors during the June 3 assault. 

Students conducted an open source investigation of social media posts from Sudan at the time of the protests. Using a multi-source verification process, HRC Lab researchers verified instances of human rights violations in Sudan in June and July 2019. Students also performed discovery and verification, geolocation, and analysis of media from the timeframe of the Sudanese Revolution, which began on December 19, 2018; and investigated incidents of suppression against protestors taking place in Al-Qadarif and North Darfur.

We investigated the massacre of protesters and found significant open source evidence that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces conducted attacks on two private hospitals on June 3, which corroborated information about these attacks provided in interviews. Methods focused on six forms of violence: excessive use of force; extrajudicial killings; sexual violence; attacks on healthcare; torture; and forced disappearances. Searches were conducted in both English and Arabic.

The Investigations Lab team worked with the Sudanese Archive to contribute to their archival processes and report outputs.