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Rapid Support Forces are detaining 600 women, some accompanied by their children, at the "Korea Prison" in Nyala, South Darfur state, under extremely poor humanitarian conditions amid prolonged detention and shortages of drinking water and food.
A guard at the Korea Prison detention facility told the Sudanese news outlet Darfur24 that more than 600 women are being held there on accusations of espionage and cooperation with the Sudanese army and the Joint Forces, including providing airstrike coordinates.
She said some of the detainees had worked in the police and the army and refused to join the Rapid Support Forces.
She added that some women were transferred from customary courts in debt-related cases, while others were imprisoned over criminal offenses committed by their husbands, including four murder cases.
She noted that more than 50 children are living inside the prison alongside their mothers, adding that the detainees were arrested in towns and areas across Kordofan and North, Central and South Darfur.
In the same context, a former detainee at Kober Prison, who was released about a month ago, told Darfur24 that the facility holds large numbers of women distributed across five overcrowded wards.
She said the humanitarian situation inside the prison is extremely difficult, with drinking water unavailable at times and food rations reduced.
She added that most detainees are between 20 and 50 years old, noting that some male and female officers exploit women held on minor charges for domestic labor, such as cleaning and washing clothes.
She continued: "One officer took me, along with another detainee, to serve his wife in the Airport neighborhood, where we cleaned the house and washed clothes, then we were returned to the prison in the evening."
Separately, a source close to the family of Islam Mohammed, an RSF detainee, told Darfur24 that their daughter has been held at Korea Prison since mid-December following an altercation with RSF elements and has not been released despite being pregnant and a mother of two children.
The source said the prison administration had repeatedly promised to release her, but that has not happened, as her health has deteriorated given that she is in the final months of pregnancy and requires special care.
The RSF uses Nyala Prison, known locally as Korea Prison, to detain women and to temporarily hold men before transferring them to Dagris Prison, amid complaints about the absence of a dedicated health center for women and their children inside the facility.
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