ICC-Indicted Ali Kushayb Surrenders, Transferred to The Hague to Face War Crimes Charges

Photograph of Ali Kushayb; a senior Janjaweed commander who supported the Sudanese government against Darfur rebel groups, and currently is sought under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes (Wikipedia/File)

June 9, 2020 (Washington, D.C.) – Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, has been arrested and is in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after surrendering himself in the Central African Republic. Kushayb has been wanted by the ICC based on an indictment for ordering killings, rapes, and looting in the Darfur region of Sudan during 2003 and 2004.

Brad Brooks-Rubin, Managing Director of The Sentry, said: “The surrender of Ali Kushayb to the ICC is a modest triumph for the cause of accountability for atrocity crimes in Africa. This represents a glimpse of hope for people in Darfur and around the world who desperately seek justice and security but are too often forgotten. Hopefully, Kushayb’s decades-long career of mass murder, atrocities, rape, and terror has finally come to an end." 

Dr. Suliman Baldo, Senior Analyst at The Sentry, said: "Ali Kushayb's transfer to the ICC offers a stark reminder to all that two million Sudanese victims of the Bashir regime's 2003-2005 genocidal campaign in Darfur are still awaiting justice in camps for the war-displaced in their own country. Sudanese transitional authorities must follow suit and act on their commitment to cooperate with the ICC by handing the three detained ICC fugitives to the Court -- former dictator Bashir, his minister of defense, and the state minister of interior during the Darfur genocide."  

 Nathalia Dukhan, Investigator at The Sentry, said: “Last February, when the Sudanese government announced its willingness to cooperate with the ICC, Ali Kushayb fled Sudan hoping he could find a haven amidst the conflict and chaos of the Central African Republic. There, with 100 militiamen, he committed barbaric crimes along with other CAR militia groups he came to support, adding new victims to his already long list of atrocities as a former leader of the genocidal Janjaweed and other violent security forces under the regime of Omar al Bashir."

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The Sentry is an investigative and policy team that follows the dirty money connected to African war criminals and transnational war profiteers and seeks to shut those benefiting from violence out of the international financial system. By disrupting the cost-benefit calculations of those who hijack governments for self-enrichment in East and Central Africa, the deadliest war zone globally since World War II, we seek to counter the main drivers of conflict and create new leverage for peace, human rights, and good governance. The Sentry is composed of financial investigators, international human rights lawyers, and regional experts, as well as former law enforcement agents, intelligence officers, policymakers, investigative journalists, and banking professionals. Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is a flagship initiative and strategic partner of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

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