The historic judgment, delivered Monday in The Hague after a lengthy trial, found him guilty of 27 counts for his role in attacks on Fur, Masalit and other non-Arab communities between August 2003 and March 2004 in West Darfur.
The crimes included murder, rape, persecution, torture and attacks on civilians in the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar and Deleig.
In a 355-page decision, presiding judge Joanna Korner and judges Reine Alapini-Gansou and Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Ali Kushayb ordered, supported and participated in widespread and systematic terrorist attacks This led to mass killings and forced displacement.
Indiscriminate killings
The Janjaweed – Arab militias armed and backed by Sudan’s security forces – were part of Khartoum’s campaign to crush a rebellion by non-Arab groups in 2003. Villages were razed, men summarily executed and women raped in what the UN later described as one of the most serious humanitarian crises of the early 21st century.
Among the evidence presented is testimony describing how Janjaweed fighters “killed town residents indiscriminately,” shooting at people fleeing for their lives.
Another account recalled a wounded father who urged his children to “leave him behind and run” as the militia advanced.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman at the opening of his trial at the ICC. (2020 Photo)
A case of many firsts
Ali Kushayb surrendered to the ICC in 2020 shortly after the fall of Sudan’s longtime leader, Omar Al-Bashir, after evading authorities for more than 12 years.
His conviction will follow and the judgment can be appealed. A reparations phase for victims will also be opened.
The conviction marks several milestones for international justice: This is the first ICC verdict in the Darfur situation, the first case referred by the UN Security Council in resolution 1593 (2005) to result in a conviction and the ICC’s first-ever conviction for gender-based persecution.
The ICC prosecutor’s office said it continued to pursue other outstanding warrants for Bashir, former Interior Minister Ahmad Harun and former minister Abdel Raheem Hussein – all accused of similar crimes.
Echo from the past
The conviction comes as Darfur once again descends into violence amid ongoing war Between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which would have emerged from the Janjaweed militias and the former leadership in 2013.
Reports of mass killings and ethnically targeted attacks have resurfaced in Darfur, drawing comparisons to the horrors two decades ago.
In September only, At least 91 civilians were killed in the besieged capital of El Fasher during a series of strikes by the RSF, involving bombings and ground incursions.
An aerial view of charred land and burned structures in a village located between the towns of Nyala (capital of South Darfur) and El Geneina (capital of West Darfur). Hundreds of villages were attacked, pillaged and destroyed. (Photo 2004)
“Justice will prevail”
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan hailed the verdict as “a crucial step towards the commission of impunity in Darfur,” adding that it “sends A resounding message to the perpetrators of atrocities in Sudan, past and present, that justice will prevail.“
She said the judgment “is a tribute to the bravery of thousands of Darfuri victims who hoped and fought for justice over the years.”
“A long-standing repair”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also welcomed the decision, calling it “An important recognition of the enormous suffering endured by the victims of his heinous crimes“And a” first measure of long repair. »
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
