The images are hard to watch. A 38-second video circulating online shows a young woman in a red dress hanging by her arms from a tree branch. Her feet are also bound. She swings back and forth, spinning around. For two seconds, the phone filming seems to switch to selfie mode, revealing the face of a man in a camouflage T-shirt who shows no particular emotion. This man has been identified by several accounts and media outlets as a fighter with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group involved in the civil war against the Sudanese army.
The video was shared by several accounts monitoring the civil war in Sudan, including @HkZuk, @EastKordofan, and @Sudan_tweet, who expressed outrage at the footage and investigated its origins.
The clip has been circulating since September 10, but none of the sources sharing it appear to be the original. The footage likely leaked, and it's not possible to determine the exact date it was filmed.
Several media outlets and online investigators, however, quickly stated that the victim's name was Qisma Ali Omar. This was confirmed by both the Ministry of Social Welfare – controlled by the army that holds power and is fighting the RSF – and the Sudanese lawyers' group Emergency Lawyers in a September 12 statement.
According to these sources, the woman was arrested by the Rapid Support Forces, who accused her of being linked to a group allied with the Sudanese army. These sources also state that she has died. The victim's family posted and then quickly removed a tribute to Qisma Ali Omar on social media.
The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Mohamed Salah Bonawi, a member of Emergency Lawyers, who said:
“No independent judicial report specifies whether her death occurred directly from the torture or after she was left suspended, but the video shows the torture led to her death."
RSF uniform
While it's not currently possible to know how the video was leaked, several online investigators and media outlets quickly claimed to have identified the man appearing in the clip. They are pointing to a TikTok profile under the name Abdallah al-Saka.
According to the Egyptian fact-checking outlet Matsda2sh, a facial recognition search points to the same account.
This profile has been posting videos since April 21, 2025, mainly showing the same man in a military uniform, often driving a pickup truck. In several clips, he is seen wearing the uniform of the Rapid Support Forces. In others, he clearly mentions the paramilitary group. After posting almost daily since April – a total of 143 videos – he hasn't uploaded any new content since August 29.
The RSF has responded to recent accusations in a statement issued on September 11. While the paramilitary group acknowledged the man in question was wearing "the distinctive military uniform of [their] forces", they "categorically deny any connection between their personnel and the video, and affirm that the entire scene is a naive media fabrication aimed at distorting the image of [their] forces and sowing false accusations of torture". They went on to claim that "these accusations have nothing to do with [their] morals".
Based on the latest videos posted to the TikTok account, Matsda2sh was also able to determine that they were filmed in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur. One of the videos, captioned "Greetings from Zalingei", shows the man driving a pickup truck in front of a military base. The base, which is near a bridge in Zalingei, has the words "Rapid Support Forces" written on it. It is believed to be a former army base that has been used by the RSF since they took control of the city.
However, while this man likely filmed himself next to the victim, there is no independent confirmation that he was the one who hanged her from the tree, nor is there any clear indication of the extent of his responsibility for her death.
The RSF has 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 action can be taken due to the security control exerted by the Rapid Support Forces’
This situation undermines the prospect of an independent investigation into the matter, according to Bonawi of Emergency Lawyers:
"To this day, no official independent investigation has been conducted, and no legal action can be taken at a local level due to the security control exerted by the Rapid Support Forces in the region. The findings of Emergency Lawyers 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 the lawyers of 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 the Sudan released a report concluding that both the army and the RSF perpetrated war crimes.
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