The court found Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman guilty of 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including rape, murder and persecution. His sentence will be determined at a later date after a new round of hearings.
The conviction in the first and only trial looking at crimes in Sudan since the case was referred to the court by the United Nations (UN) Security Council in 2005 is a landmark for the ICC.
Darfur’s conflict first erupted in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government, accusing it of marginalising the remote western territory.

Sudan’s then government mobilised mostly Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush the revolt, unleashing a wave of violence that the United States and human rights groups said amounted to genocide.

Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said the trial chamber unanimously found Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by the nickname Ali Kushayb, guilty of all the crimes he had been charged with and dismissed his defence that he was the victim of mistaken identity.
“He encouraged and gave instructions that resulted in the killings, the rapes and destruction committed by the Janjaweed,” she said.

Korner added that he gave orders to “wipe out and sweep away” non-Arab tribes and told soldiers “don’t leave anyone behind. Bring no one alive”.

Victims of the Darfur conflict said the milestone judgment had restored some faith in the ICC and its slow procedures.

“As victims, 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,” said Jamal Abdallah, 32, who was displaced from his home in West Darfur as a child by the Janjaweed in 2003.

UN rights Chief Volker Turk said the conviction 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”.

–Reuters–