{"id":4884,"date":"2025-12-09T18:42:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=4884"},"modified":"2025-12-09T18:42:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:42:02","slug":"icc-sentences-sudan-militia-leading-axeman-rahman-to-20-years-crimes-against-humanity-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=4884","title":{"rendered":"ICC sentences Sudan militia-leading \u2018axeman\u2019 Rahman to 20 years | Crimes Against Humanity News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The conviction, related to actions in 2003 and 2004, was the ICC\u2019s first regarding crimes committed in Darfur. The region is now suffering further due to war.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 9 Dec 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">9 Dec 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The International Criminal Court has sentenced a former leader of the Janjaweed militia to 20 years in prison for committing atrocities in Sudan\u2019s Darfur region.<\/p>\n<p>Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, 76, also known as Ali Kushayb, was sentenced on Tuesday following his conviction in October for war crimes and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>This is the first time the ICC has convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur, a region that is once again seeing mass atrocities amid a vicious civil war between the government-linked Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which traces its origins back to the Janjaweed militia.<\/p>\n<p>The court had unanimously convicted Kushayb on 31 counts, including attacks against civilians, murder, torture, rape, pillaging, destruction of property, persecution, and forcible transfer of population between 2003 and 2004.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"extermination-humiliation-and-displacement\">\u2018Extermination, humiliation and displacement\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Abd-Al-Rahman was a leading member of Sudan\u2019s infamous Janjaweed militia who participated \u201cactively\u201d in multiple war crimes during the civil war, the court found.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Joanna Korner, who passed the sentence, said he had \u201cpersonally perpetrated\u201d beatings, including with an axe, and given orders for murders.<\/p>\n<p>She quoted victims who said he had carried out a \u201ccampaign of extermination, humiliation and displacement\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Abd-Al-Rahman had consistently denied during his trial being a high-ranking official in the Janjaweed militia, a largely Arab paramilitary force armed by the Sudanese government to kill mainly Black African tribes in Darfur.<\/p>\n<p>He insisted from the opening of his trial in April 2022 that he is \u201cnot Ali Kushayb\u201d and that the court had the wrong man \u2013 an argument rejected by the judges.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors had called for a life sentence, noting that among his crimes, Abd-Al-Rahman killed two people with an axe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou literally have an axe murderer before you. This is the stuff of nightmares,\u201d prosecutor Julian Nicholls said at a pre-sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Defence lawyers had asked for a seven-year jail term.<\/p>\n<p>The court noted that the time Abd al-Rahman has spent in detention \u2013 from the date of his surrender on June 9, 2020, until the date of the judgement \u2013 will be deducted from his sentence.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4135769\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4135769\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4135769\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/reuters_692865b7-1764255159.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C537&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Displaced Sudanese children who fled with their families during violence in al-Fashir, sit inside a camp shelter, amid ongoing clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan November 3, 2025. REUTERS\/Mohamed Jamal\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4135769\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Horror has returned to Darfur, with the latest conflict displacing millions of people and creating a deep humanitarian crisis [File: Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"desperate\">\u2018Desperate\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Fighting broke out in the Darfur region in the 2000s, when non-Arab tribes, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government.<\/p>\n<p>Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, a force now known as the Popular Defence Forces and drawn from among the region\u2019s nomadic tribes.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million were displaced in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Abd-Al-Rahman had fled to the Central African Republic in February 2020, when a new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n<p>He said he then handed himself in because he was \u201cdesperate\u201d and feared authorities would kill him.<\/p>\n<p>The Darfur region has suffered further since a civil war between the military-run government and the RSF erupted in April 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides \u2013 but mainly the RSF \u2013 are accused of committing atrocities, and millions have been displaced and are at risk of famine, creating an urgent humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The RSF took full control of Darfur in November, from where it is now trying to push eastwards into central Sudan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The conviction, related to actions in 2003 and 2004, was the ICC\u2019s first regarding crimes committed in Darfur. The region is now suffering further due to war. Published On 9 Dec 20259 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The International Criminal Court has sentenced a former leader of the Janjaweed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}