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Article Source: AL JAZEERAThe International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's western Darfur region.
The issuing of the warrant was announced at a news conference at the home of the court in The Hague in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Laurence Blairon, a spokeswoman for the ICC, said al-Bashir was accused of "intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Sudan; murdering, raping, torturing, forcibly transferring large numbers of the population and pillaging their property".
"Omar al-Bashir's official capacity as a sitting head of state does not exclude his criminal responsibility, nor does it grant him immunity from prosecution," she said.
He is the first sitting head of state to be ordered to face the tribunal since it began work in 2002.
While it is only right to bring anyone to trial who has orchestrated a genocide, I wonder where the double standard is.
If we do this for the president of Sudan, we should also bring to trial Bush and his allies for what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan. Israel AND Hamas, for the crimes in Gaza. Rwanda for the crimes in DRC. etc...
#1 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 11:38 AM ESTI agree that others should also be brought to the ICC for their respective crimes against humanity. That being said, this is great news. Do you know how they enforce bringing a foreign leader to the ICC? Do they first have to be arrested in their home country?
This can help:
How does the ICC execute its arrest warrants?
The Court does not have its own police force to execute arrests. Therefore, the Court relies on states'
cooperation in securing custody of suspects for whom arrest warrants have been issued. After an arrest warrant is issued, the Court submits requests for cooperation for the arrest and surrender of the named suspect to a State Party or non-State Parties as requested by the Court. Generally, the Registrar of the ICC is responsible for transmission of these documents as well as for receiving all responses to the request. Upon receipt of a request for arrest and surrender, States Parties (those states that have ratified the Rome Statute) must cooperate with the Court and immediately take steps to arrest named suspects found in their territories. This duty to cooperate derives from the Rome Statute, which imposes an obligation on State Parties to cooperate with the Court's investigations and prosecutions. In particular, under the Rome Statute, State Parties agree to use their respective national authorities to arrest suspected perpetrators and transfer them to the Court. Additionally, when the Security Council refers cases to the Court, the Security Council has the power to require UN member states, A program of the United Nations Association of the United States of America www.amicc.org whether States Parties or non-States Parties to the ICC, to cooperate with the Court in specific situations.
Beyond any obligations arising out of the Rome Statute or Security Council Resolutions, state cooperation is reinforced by the political will to address atrocities and egregious violations of international law as well as by individual states' interests in the success of the Court and its prosecutions. Moreover, the national interests of states will frequently induce them to cooperate with the Court in the arrest and transfer of suspects. (source)
Thanks for the source. If he is turned into the ICC and convicted, what do you think will be the next best step for Sudan? A TRC?
In my opinion, in the current context of Sudan, don't think there is a fair chance of that for the simple reason that within Sudan there seem no willingness towards reconciliation on the Darfur issue.
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