The International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced this Tuesday to twenty years in prison Mohamed Ali Abd al Rahman, alias Ali Kushaibfor war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Darfur (Sudan) since 2003. The convict, aged 76, led the Arab militias yanyaweedallies of former Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, and is the first person sanctioned for violence that persists in a country devastated by a civil war that lasted until 2020, but still mired in a humanitarian crisis.
The crimes on trial were committed between August 2003 and March 2004 in Darfur, when the Sudanese government and its allies, the militias yanyaweed, They launched a series of coordinated attacks against the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit communities, seen as supporters of a rebellion against the authorities. This Tuesday, when reading the judgment, the president of the chamber, Judge Joanna Korner, declared that Abd-Al-Rahman “did not only give orders which resulted in crimes”, largely against members of the Four. He also personally carried out some of the crimes, “using an ax he carried with him.”
Last October, judges found him guilty and then retired to determine the years in prison now imposed. In November, the ICC prosecutor requested a life sentence against the accused and prosecutor Julian Nicholls spoke of the axe. In fact, he called him an “axe murderer.” He in turn described him as an “enthusiastic, energetic and efficient criminal”. The ICC envisages a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, but judges have the power to increase it to life in extremely serious cases.
Among the 27 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity brought against Abd al Rahman, he is considered guilty, as a direct perpetrator, of murder and torture, persecution and outrage against dignity. Additionally, as a co-perpetrator, with these militias and the government of Sudan, of the assassination, attempted assassination and torture of at least 200 detainees. He also incited rape, looting, destruction of property and forced displacement, “and subjected men, women and children to severe suffering,” according to prosecutors.
The United Nations estimates that at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the Darfur conflict. Throughout the trial, 74 witnesses testified, including 54 called by the prosecution. The testimony of 1,591 victims was also authorized through a team of legal representatives, who recounted the atrocities perpetrated by the yanyaweed on the orders of the now convicted man.
The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003, when black African rebels attacked the Sudanese government considering that it has marginalized this territory, located in the west of the country. The authorities then mobilized Arab militias yanyaweedand the violence unleashed was described as genocide by the United States, but not by the UN. In 2023, tension returns to the country between the so-called Rapid Support Forces – paramilitaries and heirs of yanyaweed— and the army. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 40,000 people have died and 12 million are displaced.
Abd al Rahman’s case is the first to be tried before the Court by the United Nations Security Council, since Sudan is not part of the ICC. The convict voluntarily went to the Central African Republic in June 2020 and will serve his sentence in one of the 16 countries, including Spain, which have signed agreements with the ICC to this effect.
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