The International Criminal Court has sentenced Sudanese militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, widely known as Ali Kushayb, to 20 years in prison for a catalogue of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur nearly two decades ago.

Abd-Al-Rahman, 76, listened silently as judges delivered the landmark ruling at The Hague.

The court had previously found him guilty of 27 counts of rape, murder, torture, and persecution linked to attacks between 2003 and 2004, a period that marked the height of the violent crackdown on non-Arab communities in western Sudan.

According to prosecutors, Abd-Al-Rahman was not only a senior figure in the feared Janjaweed militia but also directly oversaw and participated in brutal assaults on villages.

Presiding judge Joanna Korner said Abd-Al-Rahman “personally perpetrated” violent beatings and issued commands for executions.

“He carried out a campaign of extermination, humiliation, and displacement,” Korner stated as she summarized testimony from victims.

ICC Details, Witness Testimonies, and Prosecutor’s Push

The judge read out disturbing accounts from survivors of Janjaweed raids, including assaults that took place openly in the streets.

“Days of torture began at sunrise… blood ran freely in the streets… there was no medical help, no treatment, no mercy,” she said.

Korner added that Abd-Al-Rahman had even stepped on the heads of wounded civilians, men, women, and children, as part of the attacks.

Prosecutor Julian Nicholls urged the court to impose the harshest possible sentence.

“You literally have an axe murderer before you. This is the stuff of nightmares,” he warned.

Abd-Al-Rahman denied being a high-ranking Janjaweed leader, arguing he fled Sudan in 202,0 fearing for his life, and surrendered to the ICC only out of desperation.

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Darfur’s Legacy and Sudan’s Renewed Conflict

The Darfur conflict erupted after non-Arab groups protested systematic marginalization by the Khartoum government.

In response, the regime mobilized the Janjaweed, nomadic Arab militias later restructured into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced in the early 2000s.

Sudan is now engulfed in another devastating war, this time between the national army and the RSF, which traces its lineage directly to the Janjaweed.

The fighting, marked by reports of ethnic targeting, mass displacement, and widespread sexual violence, has pushed the country toward famine and left tens of thousands dead.

Conditions in Darfur today mirror the early years of the original conflict.

ICC prosecutors say they intend to pursue additional indictments over atrocities committed in the ongoing war.

“Deterrence is particularly apposite in this case, given the current situation in Sudan,” Korner emphasized during sentencing.

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Symbolism and the Path Ahead

Victims’ lawyers urged the ICC to impose a sentence that would prevent Abd-Al-Rahman from ever returning to Sudan.

While the court has the power to issue a life sentence, it has never exercised that option.

Deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said the conviction carries enormous symbolic weight.

“It is a signal to the victims in Sudan, but also to those committing crimes, that justice may be slow but it will get you in the end,” Niang noted.

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Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, Sudan’s Former Janjaweed Leader. PHOTO/ File