"The 27 guilty verdicts are the first handed down by The Hague-based court over war crimes in the Sudanese region in the 2000s. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has found a commander of a Sudanese militia guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in leading attacks in the western region of Darfur more than 20 years ago."
"The chamber is convinced that the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crimes with which he has been charged, said Joanna Korner, the ICC presiding judge. Its verdicts are unanimous. Abd-Al-Rahman will face a sentencing hearing at a later date. He is eligible for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Abd-Al-Rahman had denied all the charges against him in the trial, which opened in April 2022, insisting the court was prosecuting the wrong man. I am not Ali Kushayb."
"Delivering the verdicts, Korner recounted the testimonies from witnesses, who described entire villages being razed by Janjaweed militia forces and women and girls being raped by gangs of fighters in the aftermath. The entire town was on fire. It was beyond words to describe this, she said, reading the words of one witness. After the attack, [the village] was a rubble of ashes, corpses scattered everywhere."
The International Criminal Court convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (Ali Kushayb) of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for attacks in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004. Convictions include murder, rape, torture and forcible transfer carried out during assaults on villages. The accused led the government-backed Janjaweed militia that razed towns and deployed sexual violence as a weapon. Judges found guilt beyond reasonable doubt and returned unanimous verdicts; sentencing will occur later with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Prosecutors presented testimony from 56 witnesses who described mass killings, widespread destruction and gang rapes. The accused denied the charges and disputed the identity attributed to him.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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