ICC Files 21 Criminal Charges Against Kushayb

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed 21 criminal charges against Ali Muhammad Ali Abdel-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, including murder, rape, torture, pillaging, and cruel treatment.

Prosecutors at the Court described the defendent as a senior leader of the Arab Janjaweed militia, saying he participated “with enthusiasm” in committing these crimes.

Kushayb, who was born in 1949, denied the accusations, asserting that he is not the man being pursued. During a hearing before the ICC in December 2024, he told the judges: “I am not Ali Kushayb. I do not know this person, and I have nothing to do with the charges brought against me.”

When a new Sudanese government was formed in February 2020 and announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC investigations, Kushayb fled to the Central African Republic and surrendered himself voluntarily, claiming he did so out of desperation and fear that the Sudanese government might kill him.

“I had been living in hiding for two months, afraid that the Sudanese government would arrest me,” he said. “If I hadn’t come forward, the Court would not have received me — I would have been dead.”

The ICC has described him as a commander within the Janjaweed militia.

Prosecutors stated that “the grim reality in this case is that the targets were not rebels, but civilians. They were deliberately attacked, suffered, and were killed — subjected to physical and psychological trauma in many different forms.”