By Sovereign Hager
Managing Editor- News, Impunity Watch
THE HAGUE, Netherlands-The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir. The chamber found reasonable grounds to believe Bashir responsible for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
The ICC issued its first arrest warrant against Bashir in March of 2009 and it continues to be in effect. The first arrest warrant is for five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape. It also included two counts for war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and pillaging.
The initial arrest warrant rejected the genocide charge, which the Prosecutor appealed on July of 2009. In February of 2010, the Appeals Chamber reversed the decision unanimously on the genocide charge due to an erroneous standard of proof. The Appeals Chamber then ordered the Pre-Trial Chamber to decide the genocide charge again based on a correct standard of proof – reasoable grounds.
The Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded that in fact there was reasonable grounds to believe that Bashir had the specific intent to destroy in part three ethnic groups.
In issueing the warrant, the Pre-Trial Chamber I seeks international co-operation in obtaining the surrender and arrest of Bashir for the charges on both the first and second arrest warrants. A request has been sent to the Sudanese authorities as well as to all State Parties to the Rome Statute, and the United Nations Security Counicl members that are not parties to the Rome Statute.
The United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC via resolution 1593, on March 31, 2005. Four cases are being heard under this resolution.
The Sudanese government criticised the ICC decision, calling it a “political decision” and stating that “Sudan does not pay attention to this political campaign and will respond to it with more economic achievements. Sudan’s minister of information called the indictment a “desperate attempt to create instability in Sudan in order to stop its development process.” Bashir refuses to recognize the ICC’s authority and refuses to stand trial.
Genocide is considered the gravest crime in international law, requiring proof of an intent to wipe out “in whole or in part” a racial, religious, or ethnic group. ICC Prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo accused Bahir of keeping 2.5 million refugees from specific ethnic groups in Darfur in camps “under genocide conditions, like a gigantic Auschwitz.”
For more information, please see:
Open Democracy-The Omar al-Bashir Indictment: the ICC and the Darfur Crisis-15 July 2010
International Criminal Court-Trial Chamber Issues a Second Warrant of Arrest Against Omar Al Bashir for Counts of Genocide-12 July, 2010
Rueters-Omar Bashir Indicted for Genocide-12 July, 2010
