The International Criminal Court convicted Abd-Al-Rahman, a Sudanese militia leader, of murder, rape and torture for crimes committed in Darfur in 2003 and 2004, the court said.
The court’s president outlined how Abd-Al-Rahman at some point had dozens of civilians loaded onto trucks and later had them executed by his men.
The suspect claimed there was personality confusion. “I am not Ali Kushayb. I don’t know this person,” he declared late last year.
He will receive his sentence later.
The prosecutor’s office called the verdict historic. “This is the first conviction related to the situation in Darfur, and the first in a case referred to the court by the UN Security Council,” reads a statement. It would also signal that those responsible for the “indescribable suffering” of civilians in Darfur must be held accountable.
The crimes were allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004 during the conflict in Darfur, which cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
