The historic judgment, rendered Monday in The Hague after a long trial, found him guilty of 27 counts for his role in the attacks against fur, the Masalit and other non -Arab communities between August 2003 and March 2004 in the west of Darfur.
Crimes included murder, rape, persecution, torture and attacks on civilians in the cities of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar and Deleig.
In a 355-page decision, President Joanna Korner and Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou and Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor concluded out of any reasonable doubt that Ali Kushayb ordered, supported and participated in generalized and systematic terrorist attacks This led to mass killings and forced displacement.
Blind killings
The Janjaweed – Armed Arab militias supported by Sudan’s security forces – were part of the Khartoum campaign to crush a rebellion by non -Arab groups in 2003. The villages were shaved, the summary men and women violated what the UN later described as one of the most serious humanitarian crises of the early 21st century.
Among the evidence presented are a testimony describing how Janjaweed fighters “killed the inhabitants of the city without discrimination”, shooting people fleeing for their lives.
Another account recalled an injured father who urged his children to “leave him behind and save himself” as the militia advanced.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman at the opening of his CPI trial. (2020 photo)
A case of many first
Ali Kushayb went to the ICC in 2020 shortly after the fall of the longtime leader in Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, after having escaped the authorities for more than 12 years.
His conviction will follow and the judgment can be appealed. A repairs phase for victims will also be open.
The conviction marks several stages for international justice: This is the first ICC verdict in the situation of Darfur, the first case returned by the UN Security advice In resolution 1593 (2005) to lead to a conviction and the very first conviction of the ICC for sex -based persecution.
The CPI prosecutor’s office said that he continued to continue other pending mandates to Bashir, former interior minister Ahmad Harun and former Minister Abdel Raheem Hussein – all accused of similar crimes.
Echo of the past
The conviction occurs while the Darfur descends once again into violence in the middle of the War in progress Between the Army of Sudan and the paramilitary forces of rapid support (RSF), which would have been from Janjaweed militias and the former leadership in 2013.
Mass murder reports and ethnically targeted attacks resurfaced in Darfur, making comparisons with horrors two decades ago.
In September only, At least 91 civilians were killed In the besieged capital of El Fasher during a series of strikes by the RSF, involving bombardments and incursions on the ground.
An aerial view of the charred grounds and the structures burned in a village located between the cities of Nyala (capital of the south of Darfur) and El Geneina (capital of Western Darfur). Hundreds of villages have been attacked, looted and destroyed. (Photo 2004)
“Justice will prevail”
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan praised the verdict as “a crucial step towards the Darfur Impunity Commission”, adding that he “sends A resounding message to the authors of atrocities in Sudan, past and present, that justice will prevail.“”
She said that the judgment “is a tribute to the bravery of thousands of victims of Darfuri who hoped and fought for justice over the years.”
“A long -standing long repair”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also praised the decision, calling it “Significant recognition of the enormous suffering endured by the victims of his heinous crimes“And a” first measure of long repair. ” »»
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
