ICC sentences Sudan Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb to 20 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Report from Deutsche Welle (DW)

By Sean Sinico with AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters

Dated Tuesday 9 December 2025 - full copy:

ICC sentences Sudan Janjaweed leader to 20 years in prison

Judges at the International Criminal Court sentenced a leader of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia in Darfur to 20 years in prison. Muhammad Ali Abd Al-Rahman was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Over 300,000 people died and millions were displaced by the conflict in Darfur in the early 2000s [FILE: September 2004]. 

Image: Scott Nelson/Getty Images

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, on Tuesday received a joint sentence of 20 years in prison by the International Criminal Court, following his conviction on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said Abd-Al-Rahman "not only gave the orders that led directly to the crimes" in attacks that largely targeted members of the Fur tribe seen to support a rebellion against Sudanese authorities, he "also personally perpetrated some of them using an ax he carried in order to beat prisoners."

First ICC conviction for war crimes in Darfur

Abd-Al-Rahman was the first person convicted by the ICC for atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region. Judges ruled that crimes committed by the Janjaweed militia were part of a government plan to stamp out a rebellion there.

In the sentencing summary, Korner cited testimony from victims of the Janjaweed: "Days of torture began at sunrise and continued until forced displacement, brutal beatings, and rape, both inside homes and in public, in full view of the police. … Ali himself walked over the heads of people lying face down on the ground … Blood ran freely in the streets... there was no medical help, no treatment, no mercy."

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahma, seen here at the ICC, committed crimes of 'unimaginable cruelty,' the presiding judge said. Image: Peter Dejong/ANP/picture alliance

Key facts about the conflict in Darfur

• Fighting began in Darfur in 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Sudanese government, accusing it of marginalizing the remote western region.
• The government mobilized Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush the rebellion.
• The UN has said 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million more displaced.
• The US and human rights groups said the violence amounted to genocide.

Crimes were 'the stuff of nightmares'

Prosecutors had requested a life sentence for Abd-Al-Rahman and could appeal the sentence and renew their call for a life term.

"You literally have an axe murderer before you," Prosecutor Julian Nicholls had told the court. "This is the stuff of nightmares."

Abd-Al-Rahman's defense argued he was a victim of mistaken identity and that his age of 76 years meant any sentence longer than seven years would amount to a life term.

Abd-Al-Rahman fled Sudan for the Central African Republic in 2020 when a new government said it would cooperate with the ICC's investigation. He later surrendered to authorities, a move Korner said contributed to a lower sentence along with his age and good behavior while in detention. Abd-Al-Rahman's time in detention, both before and during his trial, will be deducted from the sentence.

The ICC, which tries individuals for the world's worst crimes, can impose a life sentence but has never done so.

View original: https://www.dw.com/en/icc-sentences-sudan-janjaweed-leader-to-20-years-in-prison/a-75077572

Ends 

Sudan: Clashes as RSF, Border Guards tensions erupt (Part 15)

• Starting mid-August 2017, verbal clashes between Hilal and Sudan's Second Vice-President Hassabo Abdelrahman threatened to escalate tensions between Sudan's two paramilitary forces under the command of Hilal and Hemeti in North Darfur.
• Hilal also strongly opposed the planned integration of the Darfuri Border Guards into the RSF. “I was the one who established and presented the Border Guards initiative to the army in Darfur to defeat the rebellion,” the Mahameed clan chief told Radio Dabanga in August 2017.
• Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia chases Ali Rizgallah Safana forces to Kutum.
• All nine captured men have been transferred to El Fasher, and from there they will be transferred to Khartoum.
• RSF commander Hemeti told reporters that one of the caught fighters is a deputy of the Safana Border Guards.  Full story - published seven days before Musa Hilal's arrest by Hemeti's RSF:

Article from and by Radio Dabanga.org

Dated 10 November 2017 - KORMA / EL FASHER

Clashes as RSF, Border Guards tensions erupt

Members of the Border Guards militia meet in Mistariha in North Darfur on 12 August 2017 (RAC)

Large clashes took place between two of Sudan's paramilitary forces, the Rapid Support Forces and the Border Guards, near Korma today. Their leaders have not revealed the casualty number.

Eyewitnesses in Korma in North Darfur told Radio Dabanga that fighting broke out in Amar Jadeed, Eshbara, Kela and Niro. They heard explosions and gunfire coming from these areas from morning until after the Friday prayers ended.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spokesman, Col. Abdelrahman El Jaali, confirmed the clash in Korma, which is 12 kilometres west of El Fasher. In a statement to the official Sudanese news agency (Suna) he said that they managed to arrest nine Border Guards members and seized their military equipment.

He said that a number of militiamen were killed when the RSF pursued them up to the outskirts of Kutum. The RSF still give chase to the Border Guards members who managed to flee. “We will work to clean up all Darfur states from the infiltrators, especially those in the cities.”

The Border Guards members in question serve under Lt. Col. Ali Rizgallah (nicknamed Safana), who recently declared a rebellion against Khartoum and defected from Sudan's chain of command. Rizgallah 'Safana' refuses to integrate his forces in the RSF, as part of a currently ongoing disarmament campaign in Darfur.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan 'Hemeti' told reporters today that one of the caught fighters is a deputy of the Safana Border Guards. All nine captured men have been transferred to El Fasher, and from there they will be transferred to Khartoum.

Attack in Kutum

On Friday afternoon Rizgallah and his forces came under attack by RSF in Eshbara, on the road between Kutum and Kabkabiya, south of Kutum. He briefly spoke to Radio Dabanga but did not answer questions about the number of casualties.

Meanwhile the spokesman of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, led by former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, commented that the circumstances of the clash between the RSF and Safana's Border Guards are unknown. “We do not know the extent of the casualties because it occurred in a remote area,” said spokesman Mohamad Abekar.

Starting mid-August, verbal clashes between Hilal and Sudan's Second Vice-President Hassabo Abdelrahman have threatened to escalate tensions between Sudan's two paramilitary forces under the command of Hilal and Hemeti in North Darfur.

Hilal also strongly opposes the planned integration of the Darfuri Border Guards into the RSF. “I was the one who established and presented the Border Guards initiative to the army in Darfur to defeat the rebellion,” the Mahameed clan chief told Radio Dabanga in August.

Defectors

Last week, about 120 defectors from the Ali Rizgallah group of Border Guards which rebel against the government, announced that they will join the RSF. El Haj Ali Widaa led the group to El Fasher.

On paper the Border Guards are under nominal government command and used to be a government militia in Darfur. Its members are affiliated with founder and former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, backed by Khartoum, until he distanced himself from the government in mid 2013. Hilal holds control of the gold-mining area Jebel Amer and Saraf Omra.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/clashes-as-rsf-border-guards-tensions-erupt