El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun

Background and Work

El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun was a lawyer and human rights defender based in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur State. He was a member of the Darfur Bar Association, a professional body of Sudanese lawyers established in 1995 to support legal practice in a region marked by protracted conflict and displacement. In 2020, the association received the Democracy Award in recognition of its work providing legal aid to victims of human rights violations across Darfur.

Haroun's work focused on representing individuals and communities affected by violence, particularly those displaced by attacks on civilian areas. He was part of a group of lawyers who filed cases against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that emerged from the Janjaweed militias active during earlier phases of the Darfur conflict. The cases accused the RSF of carrying out attacks on the Krinding camp for internally displaced persons in El Geneina on 16 January 2021 and 28 April 2022. These attacks involved killings, sexual violence, and the destruction of shelters, targeting some of the most vulnerable populations in the region.

Threats and Context of Armed Conflict

In May 2023, lawyers and human rights defenders affiliated with the Darfur Bar Association began receiving death threats from militia members. The threats came as Sudan entered a new phase of armed conflict following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF in Khartoum on 15 April 2023. The violence quickly spread to Darfur, where the RSF had a strong presence and where ethnic and communal tensions were reignited.

West Darfur became one of the most affected areas. Civilian populations faced widespread attacks, forced displacement, and severe restrictions on movement. Human rights defenders found themselves at acute risk, both because of their documentation work and because of their legal challenges to armed actors. The warring parties signed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan on 11 May 2023, recognising their obligations under international humanitarian law, but compliance remained minimal. Defenders and civilians alike were left exposed.

The Killings in El Geneina

On 17 June 2023, Abd Elrazeg Adam Mohammed, a 28-year-old human rights defender and member of the Darfur Network of Monitors, was killed in El Geneina along with his parents and four brothers. The following day, 18 June, two more defenders were killed in the city.

Tareg Hassan Yagoub Elmalik, a lawyer and founding member of the Darfur Bar Association who also served on the steering committee of the Sudanese Bar Association, was killed in his home. Hours later, El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun was killed elsewhere in El Geneina. Both men were members of the Darfur Bar Association and both had been involved in legal efforts to hold the RSF accountable for attacks on civilians.

The killings are understood to have been carried out in the context of violence between the RSF and the Sudanese military, with human rights defenders caught in the crossfire and targeted for their documentation and legal work. Over the preceding weeks, at least three other human rights defenders—Mohammed Ahmed Kudia, Khamis Arabab, and Khidir Sulieman Abdelmageed—had also been killed in El Geneina.

Legacy and Wider Impact

Haroun's death forms part of a broader pattern of violence against defenders in Darfur during the 2023 conflict. His legal work—representing survivors of RSF attacks and filing cases that sought accountability—made him a target in an environment where documentation itself had become a form of resistance. The elimination of lawyers and monitors in El Geneina has had a chilling effect on the few remaining mechanisms for accountability in the region.

The Darfur Bar Association continues to operate under severe constraints, with many of its members displaced, in hiding, or killed. The killing of Haroun and his colleagues represents not only the loss of individual lives but also the systematic dismantling of legal and human rights infrastructure in West Darfur at a time when it was most urgently needed.