Darfur atrocities: Sudan militia leader gets 20-year prison sentence

After a trial lasting 134 days (spread over a period of 2.5 years), the International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced a Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for atrocities committed during a civil war more than two decades ago.

In October, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman was found guilty on 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Darfur region.

He was one of the leaders of the Janjaweed, a government-backed organization that terrorized Darfur and killed hundreds of thousands of people. His name was Ali Kushayb.

The 76-year-old Kushayb is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed during the civil war. He had maintained that the accusations were a case of mistaken identity.

The court findings

"The Chamber found that between August 2003 and March 2004, Abd-Al-Rahman had command of an irregular force, known as the Janjaweed, which systematically conducted operations against villages and towns in Darfur (inhabited primarily by members of the Fur tribe), who it was perceived supported the rebellion against the Government of Sudan.

''[Abd-Al-Rahman’s conviction] is the first acknowledgment that the people of Darfur were not victims of mere intertribal conflict or something alike. They were victims of a deliberate campaign - the Chamber made it very clear - orchestrated by those in power and executed by the Janjaweed led by Mr Abd-Al-Rahman in Wadi Salih region, under the authority of the Government of Sudan, even if not specifically ordered by anyone in particular.

''The Chamber notes that Abd-Al-Rahman surrendered to the Court and arrived in its custody on 9 June 2020. Accordingly, the Chamber orders that the time Abd-AlRahman has spent in detention from the date of his surrender on 9 June 2020 until the date of this judgment shall be deducted from his sentence.''