The International Criminal Court has convicted former Central African Republic rebel commander Mahamat Said Abdel Kani of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the torture and mistreatment of detainees during the country’s civil conflict.
Said, 56, was found responsible for abuses committed while he headed a unit at the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry detention centre in the capital, Bangui, as the Central African Republic descended into civil war in 2013. The court found that Said oversaw beatings, torture and other forms of mistreatment at the detention facility.
Said shook his head several times in the courtroom as presiding judge Miatta Maria Samba detailed the crimes for which he was convicted. The ICC will impose his sentence at a later date. He was also acquitted of three war crimes charges. According to the ruling, detainees at the OCRB facility were subjected to severe physical abuse and degrading conditions.
Samba said one method of torture frequently used at the facility was known as “arbatachar,” in which prisoners’ hands, elbows and feet were tightly bound together behind their backs. Other detainees were beaten with ropes and whips or doused with water. The court heard testimony from victims who described the lasting physical and psychological consequences of the abuse.
Samba cited one victim as saying he had been left “completely unbalanced” and that his life had been “completely destroyed” by the mistreatment he suffered. The court also found that some prisoners were confined in a cramped underground cell beneath Said’s office without adequate sanitation.
“Detainees had to urinate and defecate inside the underground cell. The underground cell was dark, cramped, dirty, and insufficiently ventilated,” Samba said. “The floor was covered in waste and it smelled of faeces and urine.”
Judges found that Said participated in the interrogation and mistreatment of detainees and was present when prisoners were tortured. Said was a senior figure in the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition, which overthrew then-president François Bozizé in 2013.
The overthrow contributed to a devastating sectarian conflict in the Central African Republic, with thousands of civilians killed and serious abuses attributed to armed groups on opposing sides. Following Bozizé’s removal, predominantly Christian and animist militias known as the anti-Balaka emerged and fought against Seleka forces.
French troops operating under a United Nations mandate later helped the government regain control of major cities from 2014. The country subsequently signed a peace agreement in Khartoum in 2019. The ICC has also prosecuted senior figures from the anti-Balaka movement.
In 2025, the court convicted former Central African Republic sports minister Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and former lawmaker Alfred Yekatom of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yekatom was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of 20 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and torture, while Ngaïssona received a 12-year sentence after being convicted on 28 counts.
Established in 2002, the International Criminal Court prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression when its jurisdictional requirements are met.