Al Bashir case: ICC Judges invite the US to arrest the suspect and surrender him to the Court

Al Bashir case: ICC Judges invite the US to arrest the suspect and surrender him to the Court

ICC-CPI-20130918-PR942
Situation: Darfur, Sudan
Case: The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir

Today, 18 September 2013, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), informed by the Office of the Prosecutor of Omar Al Bashir’s potential travel to the United States of America (US), invited the competent US authorities to arrest Omar Al Bashir and surrender him to the Court, in the event he enters their territory.

The Chamber also reminded the US of the two outstanding warrants of arrest issued on 4 March 2009 and 12 July 2010 against Omar Al Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Subsequently, on 6 March 2009 and 21 July 2010, the ICC Registry transmitted requests for the suspect’s arrest and surrender to all United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members that are not States Parties to the Rome Statue, including the United States.

The Chamber recalled that non-States Parties may decide to cooperate with the Court on an ad hoc basis. The US, as a non-State Party to the Statute, has no obligations vis-à-vis the Court arising from the Statute. The Chamber noted, however, that the situation in Darfur was referred to the Court by the UNSC and that UNSC Resolution 1593 (2005), while recognizing that States not party to the Rome Statute have no obligation under the Statute, “urge[d] all States and concerned regional and other international organizations to cooperate fully” with the Court.

For more information on this case, click here.

Decision Regarding Omar Al-Bashir's Potential Travel to the United States of America

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: fadi.el-abdallah@icc-cpi.int.

ST : New YouTube video shows Sudanese woman being flogged

New YouTube video shows Sudanese woman being flogged

September 16, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – A new video was posted on YouTube showing a Sudanese police officer flogging an unidentified woman in public marking the second recording of its kind the last two years.


But the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir at the time dismissed the criticism saying that the “woman’s punishment was legal under [Islamic] Shar’ia law and she deserves it”.In 2011, a similar YouTube video was floated drawing widespread condemnation as the woman was seen screaming and begging for mercy while police officers laughed as they carried out her sentence.

The new video, which runs for a little under a minute, shows a woman groaning in pain as police officers whipped her while they made sarcastic remarks.

It is not clear what crime she was sentenced for.

The governor of Khartoum Abdul Rahman Al Khidir, told the independent Blue Nile TV channel that the woman was "rightfully punished according to the Shar’ia law, but the violation was in the manner her punishment was carried out”.

The Sudanese people are trying to break the wall of isolation imposed upon them by the government through the Public Order Law (POL) which prohibits women from wearing tight pants, or sometimes any pants, and bans public and private parties after midnight amid calls by liberals to repeal it.

Many Sudanese, who are suffering from a deep and far reaching economic crisis, fear that the POL could turn into a tool for harassing girls and college students who wear new fashions designed specifically to fit the hot weather in Africa and the Middle East.

But authorities claim that the POL will prevent the negative behaviors in the society even though the law was denounced by politicians and activists who say that it violates citizen’s fundamental rights.

“We have become accustomed to rush to our homes early in the evening because Khartoum yawns early due to the government decision to stop private parties at 11:00 pm, an hour before midnight”, says Rasha Abdeen.

Abdeen, who lives in the prestigious Al-Riyadh neighborhood, added that she joined a private dancing club in order to work around "boredom" in the evening, but says that most of those clubs also close before midnight to avoid police harassment.

Last Month, police in Khartoum’s southern suburb of Jabal Al-Awliaa reportedly forced a girl named Suhair Ali to write a pledge not to appear in public places without wearing headdress.

She posted a picture in her Facebook page of herself without a headscarf to protest the measure and wrote “I was abused by a policeman who dragged me to the police station to write a pledge not to uncover my head”.

In spite of the government’s ban on wearing tight pants, clothing market is full of readymade garments including expensive women pants which attract large numbers buyers.

Liberal activists say that the Islamic government in Sudan is deliberately harassing and abusing girls who hold opposing political views.

A liberal activist named Abd-Alqayoum said that women are facing daily harassment and insults beginning with the fee collector in the public transportation and ending with the college gatekeepers who rebukes her for wearing transparent headscarf and may send her back home thus missing a full school day.

In 2009, the Sudanese government suffered a major PR blow after the case of a female journalist by the name of Lubna Hussein swept the world media when she was arrested by Public Order Police (POP) along with a dozen other girls and charged with dressing inappropriately.

Hussein resigned from her post at the then United Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to waive her immunity bestowed upon employees of the world body and face trial to use her case to draw attention to the POL which allows flogging as a punishment for any acts or wearing clothing that are viewed as offending morals.

Following international pressure, the Sudanese judge did not impose a flogging sentence and instead ordered Hussein to pay a fine of 500 pounds ($200) or else be jailed for 30 days after being convicted of indecent dressing.

She refused to pay the fine but was released well before her one month jail sentence expired after the head of the pro-government Journalist Syndicate went ahead and paid it.

These government measures enjoy the support of the Islamists particularly the Salafi groups who usually hold religious lectures in the public squares which were frequented by youths and college students.

The controversial MP, Dafa-alla Hassab Al-Rasool, continued to issue statements mocking working women and criticizing groups which call for combating female circumcision.

Last June, he made a controversial statement demanding that Sudanese men practice polygamy in order to produce more children to join the army in the future and criticized the pro-government Islamic cleric, Abde-Galeel Al-Karuri, for joining an anti-female circumcision campaign, saying that he was being deceived by the secular groups.

Journalist and columnist, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, who is a recent winner of the Peter Mackler award for courageous and ethical Journalism has described the POL as “the worst law on earth”.

“The regime is insisting on enforcing the POL in order to harass ordinary people unduly”, said Salih.

In recent years, several Sudanese and foreign investors opened massage and slimming centers in prestigious neighborhoods in downtown Khartoum. However, the police continued to raid those centers claiming that they are used for lewd practices.

Aliaa, who is a client of one of those centers, said that the center was shut down by the police who claimed that it is being used for lewd acts, denying that such practices were taking place in the center.

An activist in cultural centers in downtown Khartoum said that the city was full of bars and beverage shops but they were shut down after the former president Ja’afar Nimeiri declared Shar’ia laws in the early 80’s.

A Sudanese citizen, who preferred to stay anonymous in order to avoid social stigma, said that they used to drink alcohol in the bars and return to their homes in the early hours of the morning but nowadays they have to go back before 10:00 pm.

He added that Khartoum has become a "big primitive village", saying that private parties and weddings stop before midnight.

Sudan is currently working on a new constitution following the secession of the mostly Christian and animist south in July 2011.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir said that since Sudan is overwhelmingly Muslim, the new constitution will be 100% Islamic.

Opposition parties claim that the constitution will be used to crush social and political dissidence.

(ST)

ST: U.S. in a tough spot as Sudan’s president seeks visa to attend UNGA meetings

U.S. in a tough spot as Sudan’s president seeks visa to attend UNGA meetings

September 16, 2013 (WASHINGTON) – The United States confirmed that it has received a visa application from Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir who is seeking entry to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings taking place this month at UN headquarters in New York.

This month, Sudan state media reported that foreign minister Ali Karti will lead the country’s delegation to UNGA sessions this year and it is not clear what prompted Bashir’s last minute decision to participate which would be his first time since 2006.

Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009 and 2010 on ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with the decade-long conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

The U.S. is the only country in the world to label the conflict in Darfur as genocide during the Bush administration in 2004.

But as a host of the UN headquarters, the US is legally obligated to promptly grant visas to officials seeking to take part in activities of the world body.

In 1988 however, the US refused to grant the late head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Arafat to address the United Nations during a special session on the Middle East drawing strong criticism from Arab and European nations alike. This forced the UN to move the meeting to the UN headquarters in Geneva.

At the time the Washington justified its refusal by saying that the Congress conditioned the entry of the US into the UN headquarters Agreement on the retention by the US government of the authority to bar the entry of aliens associated with or invited by the United Nations "in order to safeguard its own security".

The Palestinian leader at the time stood accused by the US of terrorism.

The terrorism charge has not prevented the US from granting visa to controversial ex-Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmedinejad whose country along with Sudan is on the US list of states that sponsor terrorism.

In August 2011, the US president Barack Obama issued a proclamation denying visas to individuals deemed to participate "in serious human rights and humanitarian law violations and other abuses".

This includes "any alien who planned, ordered, assisted, aided and abetted, committed or otherwise participated in, including through command responsibility, war crimes, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of human rights, or who attempted or conspired to do so".

Designating individuals on this list is the responsibility of the US Secretary of State in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the proclamation reads.

However it clearly states that "nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to derogate from United States Government obligations under applicable international agreements". The UN headquarters agreement would fall under this category.

The US is also not a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute and according to the 2002 law passed by US congress, Washington is prohibited from cooperating with the Hague-based court in any aspect including the extradition of suspects.

In the past the US has criticized countries like China for receiving Bashir and last June Larry André, Director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan at the U.S. State Department told US lawmakers that the Obama administration is working to press countries to refrain from receiving with Sudanese official wanted by the ICC.

"We just recently communicated to quite a number of our embassies where we think that some of those indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) may travel; language for them to use with the government, their host government to make certain that it is well understood our opposition to that travel. We continue to have a policy of not meeting or conducting business with those individuals who have been indicted" he said.

‘PRESENT YOURSELF TO THE ICC FIRST’

The US State Department confirmed Bashir’s visa application but declined to say whether they will issue him one and instead rebuked his desire to travel to New York.

"We condemn any potential effort by President Bashir to travel to New York, given that he stands accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. We would say that before presenting himself to UN headquarters, President Bashir should present himself to the ICC in The Hague to answer for the crimes of which he’s been accused," State Department Marie Harf told reporters.

When asked about the US potential decision, Harf said she cannot discuss specific details of individual visa cases.

"I don’t want to get ahead of where we are here. I don’t want to make a prediction," she added.

The US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power also decried reports of Bashir’s travel to the UN.

"Such a trip would be deplorable, cynical and hugely inappropriate. We would suggest that given that he is under those chargers, and that the ICC has indicted him, again, on genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity charges that it would be more appropriate for him to present himself to the ICC and travel to The Hague," Power said.

The Sudanese president trip to the US will have to be carefully planned to avoid flying through countries that are ICC members which would effectively cover most of Europe.

Since his indictment, Bashir has seen his travel difficulties mount even to non-ICC members.

In July, Bashir’s reportedly “fled” Nigeria where he was scheduled to take part in a regional summit over a case filed in a local court by the Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) to compel the government to arrest him.

Last month, Saudi Arabia barred his plane from crossing its airspace en route to Iran but Riyadh denied that the decision was politically motivated.

A similar situation occurred in June 2011 when Turkmenistan and Tajikistan refused to give permission to Bashir’s plane in order to reach China where he was to start a state visit. As a result he was forced to return to Tehran where he was attending a summit there and decide on a new route to reach Beijing.

(ST)