ICC prosecutor says no decision by judges on Bashir warrant
February 12, 2009 (NEW YORK) — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo denied press reports that the judges have a reached a decision on the case he submitted against president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.
“The judges said today they have not decided” Ocampo told Foreign Policy magazine in an interview.
Ocampo was commenting on the New York Times report yesterday quoting UN officials and diplomats as saying that the judges approved an arrest warrant for Bashir on unspecified number of counts.
Last week the ICC prosecutor said that a ruling by the judges would be forthcoming “in a few days”.
The Hague based court issued statement today that any decision by the Pre-Trial Chamber I, which is reviewing the Bashir case “will be made public by the normal way of a press release and publication on the Court’s website”.
Today a US official speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said that he expects an arrest warrant for Bashir to be issued before the end of this month.
Sudan is in a state of high alert for a decision by the ICC judges on ten counts presented by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in mid-July against president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir that include three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder.
Ocampo accused Al-Bashir of masterminding a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.
Khartoum dismissed reports of an imminent arrest warrant as “rumors” while the presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail said the news were further evidence that the ICC is “politicized” and “collaborating with Western circles”.
The London based Al-Hayat newspaper citing unidentified sources in New York said that the judges approved all counts against Bashir except genocide. However it further noted that one of the three judges wanted to press ahead with the genocide charges but it was eventually crapped.
The ICC prosecutor was asked by judges last October to submit written responses and additional evidence on his application believed to be focused on the charges of genocide.
But Ocampo insisted today that Bashir had the intent to commit genocide in the conflict ridden region of Darfur.
“Even Hitler did not have a document saying go and destroy the Jews, or the gypsies. You have to prove the intention through facts. Mr. Bashir, in March 2003, ordered publically to attack his people saying, ‘I don’t like prisoners or wounded. I just want to see scorched earth’. A few weeks later, his commanders say, ‘We’re ready,’ and they start a campaign to systematically target the villages inhabited by the Fur and Zaghawa” he said.
“Bashir has been committing genocide for the last five years” he added.
Many legal experts have criticized the prosecutor saying that it will be almost impossible to prove the genocide counts.
In September 2004 the US, in a unilateral move, officially labeled the conflict in Darfur as genocide.
In 2004 the UNSC formed a UN commission of inquiry to look into Darfur abuses headed by former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Italian Antonio Cassese.
The commission concluded that the government did not pursue a policy of genocide in the Darfur region but that Khartoum and government-sponsored Arab militias known as the Janjaweed engaged in “widespread and systematic” abuse that may constitute crimes against humanity.
They further said that Sudanese judiciary is “is unable or unwilling” to prosecute those crimes and thus recommended referring the situation to the ICC.
UN experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million driven from their homes. Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.
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Mr Famous Big_Logic_Boy
ICC prosecutor says no decision by judges on Bashir warrant
Ocampo is not accusing bashir, he is telling that truth that are available in the people of Durfur and their environment. Just misunderstanding is among people or support of bashir crimes in durfur. Arrest should be just an arrest no delay or whatever the judges are waiting for. This extension of bashir arrest is a signal of affecting the oncoming election and 2011 as well. We need serious people (judges) who are ambitious with this case. If i can ask the ICC staff a question. What is hard about issusing the arrest warrenty of this criminal? are you in any intention of disturbing the oncoming elecion or you have ask bashir to pay you a bail? Something is going on, but people are not aware.
Simon Maguor
ICC prosecutor says no decision by judges on Bashir warrant
Bashir’s Arrest Will not Affect the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) at all
I am writing in response to the ICC and many southern Sudanese views on the repercussions of the awaited issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir on counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The journey to reach the hidden homestead of the Sudanese peace was a long way. It was negotiated neither in a week nor in a month time but was realized after very many years of serious debating after seeing the failure of aerial bombardment, shelling with long-range missiles and artilleries as well as ground assaults. None of these tasks was easy either Bashir’s army or the SPLA forces. The peace was thus signed not because of the failure of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south to stage more violent attacks on the former government of the day in Khartoum, but as a result of the common pledge by the Sudanese people to obtain real freedom regardless of all forms of harassment by the Arab clique of ruling minority which can be based on realities and total democratic transformation of the country. The SPLA was strong and is still very strong now. Not only is this army capable of protecting the South but also of liberating the whole of the Sudan now. In real sense, who fears what? Or who fears what? Our president H.E Lt Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit was right in his move to the United States of America and his subsequent discussion with the outgoing and incoming US administration of the possible repercussions of al-Bashir’s arrest. Politically speaking, the formation of the government of national unity (GoNU) was not intended for creation of more havoc to the Sudan’s already destabilized political system but rather to act as a watchdog over the implementation of the protocols of the CPA which provides the bridge of understanding between the two parties signatory to it[ the SPLA and the National Congress Party-NCP]. It is a well known fact that a country can not be left without a leader [that is, when the president dies or resigns another person takes over] but a leader can be left without a country [he can be held as hostage in a foreign country, hence not a countryman]. Therefore, possible arrest of al-Bashir as the president does not mean arrest of the Sudan, the country he is presiding over. Once he is gone, the affairs of the Sudan may be momentarily halted for a day or two and thereafter somebody has taken over, they resume. This if it happens, is comparable to what happened in Liberia when the-then president Charles Taylor was arrested. Now Charles Taylor is in the Hague awaiting prosecution whereas elections were held in Liberia and at present things are normal.
Furthermore, in any social, economic and political society, criminals have no friends and they are legally dealt with no matter whoever they maybe. The Sudan is not an exception of this fact. The suffering of the Darfuri people in the hands of the bloody-thirsty Bashir-backed up Janjaweed Militiamen is a crime that al-Bashir must account for, not in any other court but in the Hague. Al-Bashir is neither a superhuman being nor a god but a person of any Sudanese kind. His being the incumbent president of the Sudan is not a defensive mechanism against his wrongdoing. People must not threaten one another for this can spark off violence with subsequent realization of losses on both sides. There is nothing bad that we have not yet seen in the Sudan ranging from manmade to natural calamities. In fact, continuous threats to the Sudan’s CPA will not only affect some individuals but the whole country. Who has forgotten the effects of the recent war? The few existing ones are survivors and can easily follow the same course that their predecessors in the struggle took. In case the Jalaba or mundukuri (Arabs) sabotage the CPA following Bashir’s arrest that will be a slap in their own faces. When the armed struggle started, the SPLA left for the bush but this time , to which bush will people go again? Of course nowhere but will just resort to destructing the culprits in a very brief moment. We have studied the tricks of the Arabs for a very long period of time [decades] and shall never fear them many more.
Al-Bashir is a monster that is not only affecting the people of western Sudan, eastern Sudan, far-northern Sudan and southern Sudan but also those with him in Khartoum. The day he will be arrested will be a red-letter day that will deserve being celebrated yearly across the whole of the Sudan. People like Hassan Turabi and his supporters will set records remarking their happiness, the Darfuri will definitely be relieved from the Bashir’s political thugs and will toil further for freedom sake.
It is hard to understand why many people ask of who will implement the arrest of Al- Bashir. Once the arrest is in circulation, brave presidents will hand him over to the ICC. Criminal Bashir will then be left with no prior action to that but to restrict himself to staying indoor in the Sudan. Another recent development in the ICC indictment of Bashir is the smooth implementation of the CPA for he fears the fall-out with southern Sudan. We shall never forget Bashir’s brutality and shall not forgive him until we see his head off like Saddam Hussein—Go! Go! Go! ICC let Bashir carry his own cross!