Prosecutors have accused a man of being a “feared and revered” militia leader behind a campaign of deadly raids in Sudan’s Darfur conflict, in the build-up to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) first trial linked to the violence.
The war crimes prosecutors said on Monday that Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman was also known as Ali Kushayb, a senior commander of thousands of government-backed “Janjaweed” fighters during the height of the conflict between 2003 and 2004.
Abd-Al-Rahman, wearing a face mask and a dark suit, did not speak as a court officer read out 31 charges against him, including persecution, murder, torture and rape.