Sudan

In Gaza, Darfur and elsewhere, the international definition of genocide, as set out in the 1948 Genocide Convention (which is particularly restrictive), has rarely met the victims' expectations of justice in recent conflicts. Photo: Displaced Palestinians returning to the war-torn Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, 19 January 2025.

Opinion

Gaza, Darfur: What’s the point of the Genocide Convention?

27 May 2025 by Alannah Travers

From Sudan to Palestine, Bosnia, Myanmar and Iraq, the restrictive international definition of genocide has allowed little more than another form of selectively deployed lawfare.

At the Lundin trial in Sweden, two former executives of the oil company are on trial for alleged complicity in war crimes committed in Sudan. Illustration: Ian Lundin and Alexandre Schneiter are drowned in a pool of oil. Conflict rages in the background.

Special focus

War and oil: Lundin in the dock

22 May 2025 by Justice Info

Oil blood is at the heart of the longest trial in Swedish history, which opened in September 2023. Two men in white collars are in the dock: Ian Lundin and Alexandre Schneiter. Two senior executives of Lundin Oil, accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan. From the very beginning, Justice Info has been covering this unique trial.

Egbert Wesselink is often considered to be behind the Lundin trial in Sweden. In a report by the Dutch NGO Pax, he revealed the links between the Swedish company Lundin Oil (and 2 other oil companies) and war crimes committed in Sudan between 1990 and 2000.

Lundin: Wesselink and the dilemma of proof

22 May 2025 by Martin Schibbye

The trial against Lundin reveals not just the brutality of war, but also the fragility of justice mechanisms built on activism. The role of Egbert Wesselink, the director of the NGO PAX, is emblematic of this broader dilemma.

Women and children in Sudan

Podcast

Sexual Violence in Sudan

3 April 2025 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

Sudan’s civil has devastated the country. An estimated 10,000 people were killed and more than six million displaced. There has also been widespread sexual violence. “It’s beyond dire situations,” says Hala Al-Karib.

Newsletter

All Justice Info publications delivered to your inbox every week

I register for free

Sudan has filed a genocide claim against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Photo: Soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces in a combat vehicle are greeted by Sudanese in Khartoum.

21 March 2025 by Janet H. Anderson

Sudan vs UAE: just trying to get attention? Sudan has filed a genocide claim against the United Arab Emirates before the International Court of Justice. But legal experts agree that the case has very little chance of proceeding, so why have they bothered?

Putin, Netanyahu, al-Assad, Jammeh, Hasina, Akhundzada, Bozizé, al-Bashir, Hlaing, Mengistu: the ten heads of state wanted by international justice. Illustration: portraits of the 10 heads of state on a map of the world and a ‘wanted’ stamp.

Infographic

17 February 2025 by Golnouche K. Barzegar

Putin, Netanyahu and the others: ten wanted heads of state It's a very exclusive club, and here is its world map. The club of heads of state wanted for international crimes. There are ten of them. At the top of this ‘wanted list’ are those accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity [...]

Trial of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (Ali Kushayb) at the International Criminal Court (ICC). He is on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan (Darfur).

19 December 2024 by Margherita Capacci

The first Darfur trial ended at the ICC The first trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan, came to an end, 20 years after the charged crimes. During the closing statements, from 11 to 13 December 2024, the prosecution stated that [...]

Sudan: in response to the crimes committed in El-Fasher, and more generally in the Darfur region, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is launching an appeal for testimony. Photo: A cattle market burns down in El-Fasher after a bombardment by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Interview

13 June 2024 by Franck Petit

Suliman Baldo: El-Fasher, a siege “comparable to Gaza” Surrounded, starving, under artillery fire and awaiting an imminent offensive by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), El-Fasher, the capital of Darfur, is “hell on earth”. On Tuesday 11 June, the prosecutor of the International Crimina [...]

Trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan. Photo: Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman enters the courtroom in The Hague.

26 October 2023 by Margherita Capacci

ICC First Darfur case: “I am not Ali Kushayb” The defence case in the first Darfur trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) started on October 19. According to his lawyers, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman was an “anonymous pharmacist” and not Ali Kushayb, a militia [...]

Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), visits a camp set up for victims of the conflict in Darfur, Sudan.

13 June 2023 by Margherita Capacci

ICC: the never-ending nightmare of Darfur's victims This is the first trial for serious crimes committed in Darfur. On June 5 in The Hague, the victims’ representatives took the floor in the Ali-Kushayb case at the International Criminal Court (ICC), amidst ongoing violence in Suda [...]

Kober prison break in Sudan: is it an escape or a release? Suspects from the International Criminal Court (ICC) were held there before disappearing.

11 May 2023 by Gwenaëlle Lenoir

Sudan: who helped the ICC suspects break jail? Who opened the doors of Kober prison, located north of the Sudanese capital, on 23 April? Where are the three International Criminal Court (ICC) suspects who had been held there for more than four years, including former president [...]

Sudan's Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti)

Podcast

5 May 2023 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

Sudan and the power(lessness) of the ICC Three weeks ago fighting erupted in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president, and his deputy and leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) [...]

Justice in Sudan - Young people demonstrating in Khartoum

31 March 2023 by Gwenaëlle Lenoir

Sudan transitional justice: agreement in sight or a "big lie"? A supposed "final agreement" to end the political crisis in Sudan has been announced for this Saturday, April 1, between the country’s military junta and civilian coalition, including new commitments on transitional justice demand [...]

Janjaweed rider on his horse in a village in Sudan (Darfur region)

Podcast

15 April 2022 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

Darfur crimes on trial at the ICC In this podcast, our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts, Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, are discussing the first trial to open before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on crimes committed about 20 years ago in Suda [...]

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman (alias « Ali Kushayb ») at the International Criminal Court (ICC)

5 April 2022 by Gwenaëlle Lenoir

Ali Kushayb, the first Sudanese on trial at the ICC The first Sudanese trial at the International Criminal Court opens on Tuesday April 5, with victims and other suspects held in Khartoum watching. This is one of the ICC’s first historic investigations, launched in June 2005. Forme [...]

A lawyer demonstrates in Khartoum (Sudan)

28 January 2022 by Gwenaëlle Lenoir

Sudan: A coup against justice Since the coup last October, the military have been sweeping away any hope of justice in Sudan. After holding it back during the transition that followed the fall of former president Omar al-Bashir, they are now acting alone to me [...]

Sudanese protesters march in Khartoum, waving flags of Sudan

Opinion

22 October 2021 by Jehanne Henry

Why Handing Over ICC Suspects Could Help Sudan’s Transition The Sudanese people massively filled the streets, yesterday, to protest against the prospect of military rule, underlining tensions between the military and civilian leaders, now at an all-time high. Both sides need to restore cre [...]

Abd-al-Rahman at the ICC

Podcast

1 June 2021 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

Who is Abd-al-Rahman? The ICC Prosecutor calls him « the colonel of colonels » of the Janjaweed militia that committed genocidal killings in the Sudan region of Darfur in 2003-2004. The defense claims he is actually not the man the International Crimin [...]

Youssef Babiker Kafi, Sudan

30 April 2021 by Gwenaëlle Lenoir

Sudan: Transitional justice in quarantine It's everywhere, all the time, in all the documents. But two years after the revolution in Sudan, transitional justice is stalled. How can the country reconcile peace and justice? How can it take account of regional specificities? [...]