Overview
- Judges imposed a joint 20-year term after finding Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman guilty on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for 2003–2004 attacks in Darfur.
- Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said he ordered executions and personally beat prisoners with an axe, citing victims who described a campaign of extermination, humiliation and displacement.
- Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, calling him an “axe murderer,” while the defense argued mistaken identity and asked for seven years.
- The chamber weighed the crimes’ gravity against limited mitigation, noting his 2020 voluntary surrender in the Central African Republic and crediting detention time since June 9, 2020.
- Both sides may appeal the sentence, the court invited reparations submissions, and prosecutors signaled continued investigations tied to Sudan’s current conflict, with the UN citing 300,000 killed and 2.5 million displaced in the 2000s Darfur violence.