Mohammed Barbary Ahab El-Nabi, an Awalad Zeid tribal leader in the western town of El-Geneina, was sentenced last week after being found guilty of "looting cows and burning properties" in the village of Dory Monkish, said Abdel Moniem Taha, the director of human rights at the Sudanese Justice Ministry. Taha said that police arrested El-Nabi on Oct. 4 and that an El-Geneina judge sentenced him on Oct. 14 to three years jail and fined him 10 million Sudanese pounds ($39,000). El-Nabi has been given 15 days to appeal, but it was not immediately clear if he had lodged an appeal yet.Taha said El-Nabi was the first known Janjaweed leader to be arrested and brought to justice. Sudanese authorities, under pressure to end 18 months of violence in Darfur that has killed tens of thousands and created what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, have said previously that they have jailed Janjaweed members responsible for attacks on African villagers. But human rights groups have argued that those sentenced were only petty criminals, not militiamen. Sudanese officials have complained that police could not track down alleged Janjaweed elements for several reasons, including the lack of security in Darfur and their restricted ability to move freely in the area, which is the size of France, because of a rarely adhered to April cease-fire agreement. A UN Security Council resolution on Sudan passed Sept. 18 called on the Sudanese government to bring to justice "Janjaweed leaders responsible for human rights and international humanitarian law violations in Darfur."