The Hague: Defense of Sudanese war crimes suspect begins

An alleged senior commander of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman — also known as "Ali Kushayb" — has been charged with 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

According to Human Rights Watch, "the mass rape and killings and other abuses appear part of widespread and systematic attacks on civilian populations that may constitute crimes against humanity. Crimes against humanity are serious offenses, including murder, torture and rape, committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population."

Ali Kushayb is accused of committing a number of crimes between August 2003 and April 2004, including murder, attempted murder, pillaging, rape, torture and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The Janjaweed, which has now been rebranded the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was a Sudanese Arab-dominated militia whose fighters tended to ride horses and camels. In 2003, it was used by the Sudanese Arab-dominated government under President Omar al-Bashir to wage a counter-insurgency campaign against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur, located in western Sudan.

The conflict that began in 2003 is estimated to have cost the lives of at least 300,000 civilians and displaced almost three million.

'Witness after witness knew Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman from before'

Abd-Al-Rahman has pleaded non-guilty to all charges at the beginning of the trial. In a March 2022 statement, his defense lawyers claimed that he was not Ali Kushayb, if indeed there had ever been a person of this name.

They argued that Abd-Al-Rahman was an ordinary citizen who had sold medicine at a market after leaving the army in 1990 and that he was listed as a recruit in a central police register in 2005. They implied such a modest person could not be a Janjaweed leader.

But at the opening trial in April 2022, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the ICC, argued that there was a "strong" case against Abd-Al-Rahman. "Witness after witness saw him, heard him, recognized him," he said.  "Witness after witness knew Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman from before."

Before the prosecution phase closed in February 2023, 56 witnesses had appeared in court, which admitted at least 600 participating victims.

Ongoing conflict fueled by impunity

In April this year, fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary RSF, which was formed by former Janjaweed members and is led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and the surrounding region. Once again, human rights violations were reported.

In a speech to the UN Security Council in July, Khan said the ICC was looking into allegations of new war crimes in Darfur.

"With respect to the role of my Office, I do wish to be very clear that our mandate pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1593 is ongoing with respect of crimes within our jurisdiction: The crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," he said. "And any individual who is found to be committing those crimes within our jurisdictions will be investigated."

Elise Keppler from Human Rights Watch told DW that it is important that the accused be held accountable by the ICC. "It is hugely important, and we know the victims have campaigned to see this and are involved in this case, but the reality is that impunity has been a major force in Sudan and is fueling abuses we see today."

Niemat Ahmadi, founder and president of the Darfur Women Action Group, said in a video posted by the ICC on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "accountability" was the "most important aspect in this crisis because the people of Sudan have to learn something new. […] It is about dignity, so let us pursue justice."

The ICC has opened at least six cases and issued seven arrest warrants in conjunction with alleged crimes committed in Darfur. The case of Abd-Al-Rahman, who voluntarily surrendered to the court in June 2020, is the only one to have reached trial so far.

Former President Omar al-Bashir is the most prominent of those accused by the ICC. However, although he and other suspects have spent time in Sudanese custody, they have yet to be extradited. Keppler told DW that their whereabouts were currently unclear: "Unfortunately, we understand those fugitives are no longer in custody. There remains an absolute need for them to be transferred to face the charges against them to see those proceedings go forward."

This article was translated from German.