On October 6, the International Criminal Court (ICC) found former Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb) guilty of 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004. In this landmark verdict, the ICC’s Trial Chamber I unanimously concluded that he directly perpetrated, co-perpetrated, and ordered murder and torture in his capacity as a militia leader.
The verdict is historic for three reasons. First, it is the first of six cases concerning crimes in Darfur under the ICC’s purview to go to trial. Second, it is the first case referred to the ICC by the United Nations Security Council ever to be tried. Lastly, it is the court’s first conviction for gender-based persecution, including rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity.
The verdict counters cycles of impunity in Darfur and sends a powerful message that these crimes are not tolerated. It reaffirms victims’ dignity, delivering them the justice they have demanded for two decades. It acknowledges their legal entitlement to reparations to help redress their physical and emotional wounds.
Throughout the trial, many victims testified in deeply painful circumstances. As they recounted the horrors they had endured, the accused sat impassively, occasionally glancing at his watch, adjusting his tie, or staring at the screen where evidence of his crimes was displayed. For those who faced him again after 20 years, this demeanor made the experience all the more harrowing.
Yet the victims persisted. Despite the trauma of reliving the violence and the risks to their safety, they took part in the proceedings with extraordinary courage. A total of 1,591 victims were allowed to participate, their voices conveyed through their legal representative. Even as they saw before them the man who had caused so much suffering, they still respected his right to due process, demonstrating the sincerity and moral depth of their commitment to genuine justice. Without their courage and active participation, this conviction would have been far more difficult to achieve.
After the trial closed on December 13, victims waited in anxious silence, unsure if justice would come. When the guilty verdict arrived, it vindicated their long and painful faith in the process.
Yet while the verdict marks an undeniable turning point, it is difficult for Sudanese people to celebrate it. A new and brutal conflict erupted on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—the reincarnation of the same Janjaweed militia that Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman led two decades ago—which has since torn the country apart and created the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis.
Recently, on October 26, RSF captured El-Fasher, North Darfur state, after an 18-month siege on the city. Soon after, credible reports emerged of widespread atrocities, including summary executions, ethnically motivated attacks on civilians, and sexual violence on a massive scale. In one day alone, the RSF killed more than 460 patients, including children and pregnant women, in El-Fasher’s only functioning hospital. The exact toll is impossible to determine, but thousands are feared dead across the city. Evidence of mass killings was captured in satellite imagery. Moreover, RSF members themselves have been posting videos of the killings on social media to scare the local population. RSF has previously declared its intention of forming a rival government in the territories it control, and the capture of El-Fasher has deepened fears about the country’s potential fragmentation.
For civilians, the situation is desperate. Famine has been declared in several areas, and reports of genocide have surfaced for the second time in the span of 20 years. The crimes being committed concern humanity as a whole. Yet, the plight of victims remains largely underreported.
Sudan is a stark reminder of what happens when impunity for atrocities becomes entrenched. The ICC’s judgment carries enormous symbolic weight and it may also shift the political calculus of those in power in Sudan, who now know that sooner or later they will be held accountable for their crimes. However, one guilty verdict cannot, on its own, break the cycles of violence that have engulfed Sudan since its independence, nor can it heal the deep intergenerational wounds inflicted on civilians.
Systemic reforms are needed to provide guarantees of non-recurrence, restore the rule of law, and rebuild trust in state institutions, which for too long have been used against Sudanese citizens. Sudanese people should have a safe space to design their own path toward justice, including judicial and non-judicial processes (such as truth-seeking initiatives, institutional reforms, and reparations) and renegotiate a more inclusive social contract. Sadly, the ongoing conflict is robbing them of that ownership.
The ICC is one of the few remaining avenues left for accountability and redress. With it and international law itself under assault, the defense of justice has become a collective responsibility. As observers, voters, and leaders, we cannot turn away. Sudanese victims have been asking for justice, tirelessly, for far too long.
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PHOTO: Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman sits before the International Criminal Court's Trial Chamber I as it issues its guilty verdict on October 6, 2025. (ICC-CPI)
