Judges at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a leader of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the conflict in Darfur two decades ago.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd Al Rahman, 76, showed no reaction as presiding judge Joanna Korner passed the sentence. He was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an axe in 2003-2004.
“To determine this sentence, the chamber considered the gravity of the crimes and the personal circumstances of the convicted person, and other factors, including the degree of participation, intent of the convicted person, and the harm caused to victims,” the ICC said in a statement.
'Enthusiasm and vigour'
At a hearing in November, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Abd Al Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb. “He committed these crimes knowingly, wilfully and with, the evidence shows, enthusiasm and vigour,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told judges at the court in The Hague, in the Netherlands.
Abd Al Rahman's surrender in 2020 in the Central African Republic was considered a mitigating factor. There was no realistic chance that Sudan would have arrested him and transferred him to the court.
The chamber has “taken the age factor into consideration … albeit to a limited extent”, Ms Korner said.
His “good behaviour and good character” in detention was viewed as “insufficient” to reduce his sentence, she added. It is “strongly contradicted by the preponderance of the evidence”.
The defence's argument that Abd Al Rahman held a subordinate rank and had limited authority was also dismissed. The chamber viewed as “not extraordinary” examples of him ordering the Janjaweed to spare the life of civilians, including a “very ill soldier or policeman in 1986”, Ms Korner said, “considering Abd Al Rahman's role as a medical professional in the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces]".
His medical training was considered to be an aggravating factor because its intention was to save lives, whereas Abd Al Rahman was found responsible for his victims' suffering despite his denials.
Other defence arguments that he had ordered the Janjaweed to spare women from rape in the West Darfur village of Arawala were also disregarded.
Ms Korner said: “The chamber recalled the findings in its trial judgment that a witness explained that that instruction meant that the Janjaweed never killed women … instead, he said: 'They would torture and rape them.'”
The chamber viewed his expressions of empathy with victims as “insincere” and “calculated” because they suggested that witnesses either lied or “at best negligently failed to state the truth”, Ms Korner said.
The five years that Abd Al Rahman has already served in detention will be deducted from his sentence.
