International Criminal Court prosecutors demanded on Monday that a Sudanese militia leader be jailed for life for crimes against humanity during the country’s civil war two decades ago.The court had found Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by the nom de guerre of Ali Kushayb, guilty of committing multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes, including gang rape, murder and torture, in the western Darfur region between 2003 and 2004. “You literally have an axe murderer before you. This is the stuff of nightmares,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told the judges.”Only a life sentence will serve the interest of retribution and deterrence.”Abd-Al-Rahman has consistently denied 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 two decades ago. But during his sentencing, ICC president judge Joanna Korner described how on one occasion, Abd-Al-Rahman loaded around 50 civilians onto trucks, beating some with axes, before making them lie on the ground and ordering his troops to shoot them dead.Korner insisted that the militiaman was “personally involved in the beatings and later was physically present and giving orders for the execution of those detained”.Abd-Al-Rahman, who was born around 1949, has insisted that he was “not Ali Kushayb” and that the court had got the wrong man — an argument rejected by the judges. His defence lawyers, who are asking for a seven-year jail term, will present their case later this week. Abd-Al-Rahman fled to the Central African Republic in February 2020 when a new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation.He said he then handed himself in because he was “desperate” and feared authorities would kill him.Fighting broke out in Sudan’s Darfur region when non-Arab tribes, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government.Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, a force drawn from among the region’s nomadic tribes.The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million more displaced in the Darfur conflict in the 2000s.ICC prosecutors are hoping to issue fresh arrest warrants related to the current crisis in Sudan.Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced in a war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which traces its origins back to the Janjaweed militia.The conflict, marked by claims of atrocities on all sides, has left the northeast African country on the brink of famine, according to aid agencies.
