ICC Convicts Said of Four Crimes Against Humanity Counts

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday convicted former Seleka commander Mahamat Said Abdel Kani on four counts of crimes against humanity, including torture and persecution, over the mistreatment of detainees in Bangui during the Central African Republic’s 2013 conflict. Judges acquitted him of three war-crimes counts, ruling that the armed conflict had ended by the time some of the alleged crimes occurred. His sentence will be determined at a separate hearing, the court said. Judges found that Said oversaw or was responsible for detainee abuse at the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry, a detention facility in the capital. Presiding Judge Miatta Maria Samba described beatings and torture at the facility, including the use of arbatachar, in which a detainee’s hands, elbows and feet are tied behind the back. The judges also described prisoners held in an underground cell without adequate sanitary facilities. The findings concerned people suspected of supporting then-President Francois Bozize, who was ousted by the Seleka coalition in 2013. Said, 56, was a senior figure in the group. He denied the charges, according to accounts of the proceedings.