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The ICC Issues an Arrest Warrant for Sudan Leader |
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Thursday, 5 March 2009The International Criminal Court, the only permanent criminal tribunal which has a broad jurisdiction to hear disputes regarding core international crimes, issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President al-Bashir on March 4th. This is the first ever warrant issued against a sitting head of state.
Omar Hassan al-Bashir is charged with conducting war crimes and crimes against humanity through a concerted government campaign directed against civilians. Although the crime of genocide is not included in the warrant, the officials say that in case of finding further concrete evidence it could be added to the indictment at a later stage.
The Sudanese government denounced the warrant as unlawful and claimed that this action is a part of Western conspiracy against the stabilization of the oil-rich African nation. The Information Minister said that "There will be no recognition of or dealing with the white man's court, which has no mandate in Sudan or against any of its people."
After the announcement of warrant, thousands of people holding posters of al-Bashir took to the streets and protested the Tribunal, specifically the Court's Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC since 2003, said that Sudan is obliged to execute the arrest warrant under international law; otherwise, the country would face UN Security Council sanctions.
World leaders' approaches towards the warrant differed dramatically. While the US and European countries welcomed the decision, allies of Sudan, namely Russia, China and the African Union criticized the decision for that it would hamper peace negotiations and lead to destabilization of the region.
On the other hand, the decision is critically important since it paved the way for potential indictments of other heads of states. "Head of state immunity no longer is a bar to prosecuting heads of state who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity during their time in office," said David Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University and former prosecutor of the Sierra Leone Tribunal. Crane also said that the indictment may even be extended to the former president George W. Bush, on the grounds that some officials in terms of his administration engaged in harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects which mostly amounted to torture. However, this prospect is unlikely to succeed since the US government is not a signing state to the Tribunal's Statute. Actually, to launch an investigation is possible if the UN Security Council issues an order, yet it is unlikely since the US is a veto-wielding permanent member of the Council.
Ceren Mutus (JTW)
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Thursday, 5 March 2009
Ceren Mutus
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