Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, November 17, 2025, called for a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, the former Janjaweed militia leader convicted of orchestrating brutal crimes in Sudan’s Darfur conflict more than two decades ago.
At a sentencing hearing in The Hague, prosecutor Julian Nicholls described Kushayb, 76, as “an enthusiastic, energetic, and effective perpetrator” of atrocities, directly responsible for acts of murder, torture, and rape committed under his command.
“You literally have an axe murderer before you,” Nicholls told the court, alleging that Kushayb had personally used an axe to kill two victims during the campaign of violence in Darfur.
The hearing follows Kushayb’s October conviction on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, marking the ICC’s first successful prosecution related to the Darfur conflict.
Defence Pushes for Leniency
Kushayb’s lawyers have maintained his innocence, claiming that prosecutors had mistaken him for another man. In court filings, the defence urged the judges to impose a maximum seven-year sentence, with credit for time already served — a move that could lead to his imminent release.
Lawyers representing victims of the Darfur atrocities strongly opposed the request, arguing that such leniency would “mock the scale and gravity” of the crimes committed.
The Darfur Conflict and ICC Involvement
The Darfur war began in 2003, when non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government, accusing it of political and economic marginalization of the western region. In response, then-President Omar al-Bashir’s regime mobilized Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, who launched a campaign of mass killings, sexual violence, and displacement.
The conflict resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions, with the U.S. and human rights organizations labeling the violence genocide.
In 2005, the U.N. Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC after Sudan’s justice system failed to prosecute those responsible.
Renewed Violence in Sudan
The sentencing comes amid renewed fighting in Sudan, where clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), widely seen as the Janjaweed’s successor, have reignited ethnic violence, particularly in al-Fashir, Darfur’s largest city.
The conflict has triggered fresh waves of ethnically driven killings and mass displacement, underscoring the continuing instability rooted in Sudan’s decades-long cycle of impunity.
Judges are expected to announce Kushayb’s sentence in the coming weeks, a decision that could set a precedent for future ICC prosecutions linked to atrocities in Sudan.
