Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have sentenced Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Abd-Al-Rahman was convicted in October on 27 counts, including murder, torture, rape and other atrocities carried out by the Janjaweed militias more than two decades ago.
Presiding judge Joanna Korner said the court found that Abd-Al-Rahman not only ordered crimes but also personally took part in them.
The judges rejected defence arguments that he had limited authority and imposed a single 20-year sentence, which is likely to amount to a life term given that he is 76 years old.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, describing him as directly responsible for extreme brutality. His defence claimed mistaken identity and argued that any sentence longer than seven years would effectively be a life sentence due to his age.
This ruling closes the ICC’s first-ever trial related to the Darfur conflict, which began in 2003 when rebel groups accused Sudan’s government of marginalising the region. The government responded by unleashing the Janjaweed militias, whose campaign of violence was described by the U.S. and human rights groups as genocide.
The UN Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC in 2005.
Meanwhile, fighting has again escalated since 2023 between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), widely seen as successors to the Janjaweed.