ICC convicts Darfur militia leader over past atrocities in Sudan

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court on Monday convicted a leader of the feared Janjaweed militia of playing a leading role in a campaign of atrocities committed in the Sudanese region of Darfur more than 20 years ago.

It was the first time the court has convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur. The three-judge panel ruled that the atrocities, including mass murders and rapes, were part of a government plan to violently snuff out a rebellion in the western region of Sudan.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, wearing a suit and tie and listening through a headset, showed no emotion as Presiding Judge Joanna Korner read out 27 guilty verdicts. He will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum life sentence.

He was convicted of crimes for leading Janjaweed militia forces in Darfur that went on a campaign of killing in 2003-2004.

“He encouraged and gave instructions that resulted in the killings, the rapes and destruction committed by the Janjaweed,” Korner said, adding that the verdicts were unanimous.

Abd–Al-Rahman pleaded innocent to all 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity when his trial opened in April 2022 and argued he was not the person known as Ali Kushayb.

The judges rejected that defense. They declined to deliver verdicts on four charges because they considered that the crimes were covered by other charges for which he was convicted.

The verdicts came as allegations of atrocities and famine continue to emerge from Sudan in a new conflict. In July, the ICC’s deputy prosecutor told the United Nations that war crimes and crimes against humanity continue in Sudan’s vast Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years.

The judges ruled that Abd-Al-Rahman was a senior commander in the Janjaweed militias during the Darfur conflict that erupted when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum.

Then-President Omar al-Bashir’s government responded with a scorched-earth campaign of aerial bombings and raids by the Janjaweed, who often attacked at dawn, sweeping into villages on horseback or camelback.

The campaign included mass killings and rapes, torture and persecution. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes in Darfur over the years. Al-Bashir has been charged by the ICC with crimes including genocide, but he has not been handed over to face justice in The Hague.

During the trial, judges heard from 56 witnesses who described horrific violence and the use of rape as a weapon to terrorize and humiliate women. One witness said that during one massacre, Abd-Al-Rahman allegedly told fighters: “Repeat, repeat for these people. Maybe there are some that you have missed.”

Defense lawyers called 17 witnesses and argued that Abd-Al-Rahman was not a militia leader, but rather “a no one” who had no involvement in the Darfur conflict.

As the verdicts are announced in The Hague, conflict rages in Sudan between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s military. Tensions erupted in 2023 between the two previous allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising.

The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced as many as 12 million others. More than 24 million people are facing acute food insecurity in Sudan, according to the World Food Program.

Two decades ago, the RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, and Janjaweed groups still help the RSF.

“The ICC’s long-awaited landmark conviction for serious crimes in Darfur provides the first opportunity for victims and communities terrorized by the Janjaweed to see a measure of justice before the court,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “With the current conflict in Sudan producing new generations of victims and compounding the suffering of those targeted in the past, the verdict should spur action by governments to advance justice by all possible means.”