Federal health ministry, doctors network condemn RSF killing of doctor in El Fasher
November 5, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – The Federal Ministry of Health and the Sudan Doctors Network on Wednesday condemned the killing of a doctor in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Contact has been lost since October 26 with the medical staff at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, which was the last medical facility providing limited emergency services in the city. This comes amid fears they would be physically eliminated, as the facility had previously faced deadly attacks by RSF drones.
The Federal Ministry of Health said in a statement that “the RSF militia arrested Dr Adam Ibrahim Ismail after entering El Fasher, and then proceeded to execute him on the spot in cold blood.”
It condemned the incident in the strongest terms, describing it as a “brutal crime” that “embodies a systematic approach of targeting medical personnel and humanitarian workers.”
It considered the incident a “flagrant violation of all humanitarian and international values and norms.”
It explained that the doctor had been stationed in the emergency department of the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher for over 700 days since the war began, providing medical and humanitarian services to the city’s residents with unwavering dedication and sincerity, despite the constant risks and shortages of supplies.
The Ministry of Health held the RSF leadership fully responsible for the crime, stressing that what occurred was “a blatant assault on the sanctity of the medical profession and a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, which guarantee protection for doctors and health workers during armed conflicts.”
The ministry called on the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international medical and human rights organizations to “act urgently to hold the perpetrators of this crime accountable.” It emphasized that the “repeated violations committed by the RSF militia amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Separately, the Sudan Doctors Network (SDN) condemned the killing of the doctor. In a press statement, it said it “condemns in the strongest terms the crime of executing Dr Adam Ibrahim Ismail in El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, as part of the systematic targeting of medical personnel and humanitarian workers.”
It added: “A force belonging to the RSF arrested the doctor in El Fasher after overrunning it, before summarily executing him, in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and all values and norms that criminalize attacks on medical staff.”
The network held “the RSF leadership fully responsible for this heinous crime,” calling on the United Nations and the World Health Organization to “act immediately to protect doctors and health sector workers, and to hold the perpetrators of these repeated violations accountable.”
The network had previously stated that RSF forces abducted six medical personnel in El Fasher and demanded their families pay a ransom exceeding $250,000 for their release.