Prosecutors have requested a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd‑Al‑Rahman also known as Ali Kushayb a Sudanese militia leader convicted of crimes against humanity committed during Sudan’s civil war over two decades ago.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) began his sentencing hearing on Tuesday. 

The previous day, prosecutor Julian Nicholls requested the maximum sentence for the “enthusiastic, energetic and effective perpetrator of abuses carried out in the western Darfur region.” Prosecutors said that among his crimes, Abd‑Al‑Rahman killed two people with an axe.

“You literally have an axe murderer before you,” Nicholls told the judges in The Hague, while Abd‑Al‑Rahman listened.

“Only a life sentence will serve the interest of retribution and deterrence.” Abd‑Al‑Rahman’s defence lawyers, who are asking for a seven‑year jail term, will present their case during Tuesday and Wednesday’s hearings.

Last month, Abd‑Al‑Rahman was convicted of 27 counts, including mass murders and rapes, for leading government‑backed Janjaweed militia forces in the Darfur region of western Sudan on a campaign of killing and destruction from 2003 to 2004.

It was the first time the ICC convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur, a region now again experiencing mass atrocities amid a vicious civil conflict.

ICC prosecutors are preparing to request additional arrest warrants over Sudan’s ongoing crisis.

The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which grew out of the Janjaweed militia has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced.

The African Union has described the situation as the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” and the World Health Organization reports that at least 40,000 people have been killed and another 12 million displaced.

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