The prosecution is demanding life imprisonment for a leader of the "Janjaweed militia".

November 17, 2025 (pen) Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for a Janjaweed militia leader convicted of atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, according to the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Prosecutors for the International Criminal Court explained on Monday that Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, committed various crimes including murder, torture, and other mass atrocities.

"Before you is a literal axe murderer," said prosecutor Julian Nicholls at a private hearing held to determine Kushib's sentence.

Nicholls added that Kushayb once used an axe to kill two people, and described him as impulsive and having played a major role in the abuses that have plagued the Darfur region for more than 20 years, according to Reuters.

The conviction of Kushayb last October on a total of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, planning rapes, and other atrocities committed by the militia, was the first successful trial the court has conducted in connection with the conflict.

The conflict in Darfur first erupted in 2003 when rebels, mostly non-Arabs, took up arms against the Sudanese government, accusing it of marginalizing the remote western region of the country.

The Sudanese government at the time mobilized armed factions, mostly Arabs, known as the "Janjaweed," to crush the rebellion, unleashing a wave of violence that the United States and human rights groups said amounted to genocide.