ICC finds Sudanese militia chief guilty of Darfur war crimes

• Sudanese militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, convicted by ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, including rape, murder, and torture.
• Abd-Al-Rahman had fled to the Central African Republic in 2020, later surrendered voluntarily, and denied the allegations during his trial.

The International Criminal Court on Monday found Sudanese militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in violent attacks in Darfur.

He was convicted of numerous offenses, including rape, murder, and torture, committed between August 2003 and at least April 2004.

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In December 2024, the defendant rejected the allegations in court and said “I am not Ali Kushayb. I do not know this person... I have nothing to do with the accusations against me,” 

Prosecutors described him as an “enthusiastic participant” in a campaign of systematic terror. 

During the trial, former ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said Abd-Al-Rahman and his men “rampaged across different parts of Darfur,” inflicting “severe pain and suffering on women, children and men in the villages that he left in his wake.”

Abd-Al-Rahman fled to the Central African Republic in 2020, after Sudan’s transitional government signaled willingness to cooperate with the ICC.

He later surrendered voluntarily, saying he feared being killed by local authorities.

“I had been waiting for two months in hiding, moving around all the time, and I was warned that the government wanted to arrest me,” he testified. “If I hadn’t said this, the court wouldn’t have received me, and I would be dead now.”