Amid a renewed genocide in Sudan, ICC convicts past militant leader for war crimes in Darfur

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

October 9, 2025

HRRC applauds the International Criminal Court’s conviction of war criminal Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman as an important signal of justice for the victims of genocide and crimes against humanity, and encourages the continued pursuit of justice for those responsible for atrocities committed in Sudan’s Darfur region, including former president Omar al-Bashir. 

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman at the opening of his trial at the ICC on 5 April 2022 [Image credit: ICC]

As Sudan approaches three years of an ongoing civil war – a war which has seen accusations of genocide against civilian populations –  the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a rare conviction of a Sudanese militant leader for war crimes during a previous genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. 

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, was found guilty of 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his actions between August 2003 and April 2004  during the Darfur genocide. A sentencing is set to occur at a later date. 

ICC judges found that Kushayb had directly perpetrated acts of torture and murder, and had directed additional acts of torture, murder, attacks on civilians, and other crimes against humanity as one of the principle leaders of the Janjaweed militant group. Kushayb is the first person tried for actions during the Darfur genocide by the ICC. 

During the genocide, the Janjaweed – an ethnically Arab militant group backed by Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir –  massacred villages composed of ethnically African inhabitants of the Darfur region of Sudan, specifically the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa people. Between 2003 and 2004 alone, nearly 200,000 people were killed as a result of Janjaweed-perpetrated massacres, disease and starvation. 

The conflict continued until 2020, ending after the 2019 popular revolution ousted Omar al-Bashir as president of Sudan. The country was soon ruled by an uneasy power sharing alliance between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary formed in 2013 by al-Bashir out of members of the Jajaweed, including its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. 

The current civil war between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in 2023, when relations between the two military factions broke down. During the conflict, RSF forces have once again been accused of genocidal acts in Darfur, including massacres of civilians and humanitarian workers and the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. 

Among others wanted by the ICC for crimes in Darfur are former president al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide. As of 2023, Al-Bashir was believed to be under custody of the Sudanese military. 

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Glossary 

• Atrocity - an extremely cruel or violent act. 

• Crimes against humanity – crimes that violate the dignity and human rights of a person as decided by international human rights law.

• Custody – imprisonment. 

• Genocide – the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, an ethnic, national, religious, or other group.

• Massacre – the mass killing of civilians or noncombatants, often indiscriminate. 

• Militant – a person involved in armed conflict who does not belong to a government’s official military force.  

• Murder – premeditated and intentional killing of another human being. 

• Ousted – removed from power.

• Paramilitary – a group that acts as a military group, but is not officially part of a country’s official military structure. 

• Perpetrated – caused. 

• Sentencing – a decision by a judge regarding the appropriate punishment for crimes a person is found to be guilty of. 

• Systematic – occurring as a part of a plan or pattern. 

• War crimes – crimes that violate international agreements governing the conduct of war, such as the Geneva Conventions.