THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court on Monday convicted a leader of the feared Janjaweed militia of playing a leading role in a campaign of atrocities committed in the Sudanese region of Darfur more than 20 years ago — including ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax.

It was the first time the court has convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur. The three-judge panel ruled that the atrocities, including mass murders and rapes, were part of a government plan to snuff out a rebellion there.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, wearing a suit and tie and listening through a headset, showed no emotion as Presiding Judge Joanna Korner read out 27 guilty verdicts. He will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum life sentence.

He was convicted of crimes for leading Janjaweed militia forces in Darfur that went on a campaign of killing and destruction in 2003-2004.

“He encouraged and gave instructions that resulted in the killings, the rapes and destruction committed by the Janjaweed,” Korner said, adding that the verdicts were unanimous.

Abd–Al-Rahman was transferred to ICC custody in 2020 after surrendering in Central African Republic. He pleaded innocent to all 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity when his trial opened in April 2022 and argued he was not the person known as Ali Kushayb. The judges rejected that defense, saying he even identified himself by his name and nickname in a video when he surrendered.

The judges declined to deliver verdicts on four charges because they considered that the crimes were covered by other charges.

The verdicts came as allegations of atrocities and famine continue to emerge from Sudan in a new conflict. In July, the ICC's deputy prosecutor told the United Nations that war crimes and crimes against humanity continue in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years.

The convictions were a success for the court that has been under intense pressure since issuing arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant for crimes they allegedly committed in Gaza. Netanyahu and Gallant reject the allegations. The Trump administration has slapped the ICC's top prosecutors and others at the court with sanctions.

Separately, the court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has stepped aside from his position while an independent panel investigates sexual misconduct claims made against him.

The judges ruled that Abd-Al-Rahman was a senior commander in the Janjaweed militias during the Darfur conflict that erupted when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum.

Then-President Omar al-Bashir’s government responded with a scorched-earth campaign of aerial bombings and raids by the Janjaweed, who often attacked at dawn, sweeping into villages on horseback or camelback.

Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes in Darfur over the years. Al-Bashir has been charged by the ICC with crimes including genocide, but he has not been handed over to face justice in The Hague.

During the trial, judges heard from 56 witnesses who described horrific violence and the use of rape as a weapon to terrorize and humiliate. One witness said that during one massacre, Abd-Al-Rahman allegedly told fighters: “Repeat, repeat for these people. Maybe there are some that you have missed.”

Abd-Al-Rahman was also found guilty of ordering the summary executions of scores of prisoners in March 2004.

In one, “the accused ... ordered the detainees to lie down in a line, and then instructed the Janjaweed and the government of Sudan forces to shoot and kill detainees,” the presiding judge said. The shooting lasted about 20 minutes and the killers then walked over the bodies.

Abd-Al-Rahman also was involved in killing captive civilians, beating two men to death with an ax, Korner said.

Defense lawyers called 17 witnesses and argued that Abd-Al-Rahman was not a militia leader, but rather “a no one” who had no involvement in the Darfur conflict.

Conflict now rages in Sudan between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan's military. Tensions erupted in 2023 between the two previous allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising.

Two decades ago, the RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, and Janjaweed groups still help the RSF.

The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced as many as 12 million. More than 24 million face acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Program.

Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, noted the “long-awaited landmark conviction for serious crimes in Darfur.”

“With the current conflict in Sudan producing new generations of victims and compounding the suffering of those targeted in the past, the verdict should spur action by governments to advance justice by all possible means,” Evenson said.