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ICC convicts Sudanese war criminal after 20 year wait

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has convicted a leading Sudanese war criminal. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman – also known as Ali Kushayb – was found guilt of all 27 charges against him. His attempted defence of mistaken identity was kicked out by judges.

It is the first conviction related to the Darfur war, which began in 2003. The case was brought in 2005. Non-Arab rebels fought the government. In response, largely Arab militias known as the Janjaweed crushed the revolt, “unleashing a wave of violence that the U.S. and human rights groups said amounted to genocide”.
The presiding judge, Joanna Korner, said Abd-Al-Rahman:
…encouraged and gave instructions that resulted in the killings, the rapes and destruction committed by the Janjaweed.
The orders he gave to his troops included to “wipe out” the rebels and “don’t leave anyone behind. Bring no one alive”, the court found.

Long overdue redress

One survivor, Jamal Abdallah, said:
…the ruling is a victory for us and for justice, because the crimes he committed had huge impacts for the last 22 years. We were displaced, made refugees in camps.
And U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said the outcome was:
…an important acknowledgment of the enormous suffering endured by the victims of his heinous crimes, as well as a first measure of long overdue redress for them, and their loved ones.

Now, in 2025 war has returned to Sudan. Commenting on the conviction, the UN said the current situation echoed the worst days of ethnic bloodshed:

…Darfur once again descends into violence amid the ongoing war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which reportedly grew out of the Janjaweed militias and former leadership in 2013.

Reports of mass killings and ethnically targeted attacks have resurfaced in Darfur, drawing comparisons to the horrors of two decades ago.

Colonial ICC

It has often been argued that the ICC and ICJ have a colonial character, only pursuing African war criminals and Balkan dictators.

In a recent interview on Palestine Deep Dive this argument was made again by former British army general Charlie Herbert:

Herbert pointed out the lack of action on international arrest orders for Israeli leaders, saying the Western response to the genocide in Gaza had effectively destroyed its own institutions. He said:

The lip service by which most countries are paying the ICC arrest warrants on Netanyahu have effectively totally discredited the ICC.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English

By Joe Glenton

This post was originally published on Canary.