ICC decision date on Sudan’s Bashir prompted by security concerns: NYT

February 23, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The announcement by the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that they would issue their decision on the request of arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir was prompted by security concerns, the New York Times reported today.

Today the ICC judges said that their specification of a decision date was in light of “numerous rumors over the past weeks on a possible date and outcome of the decision that this Chamber shall issue on the Prosecution Application”.

The unusual announcement is the first of its kind by ICC judges on a case since its establishment in 2002.

The NYT quoting lawyers familiar with the court said that the date would alert diplomats, United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian workers in Sudan and the region that they could become the targets of attacks.

The ICC said that the decision “will be made public by the normal way of a press release and publication on the Court’s website”.

ICC judges normally make their rulings publicly but may notify the office of the prosecutor only in advance if it is issued under seal.

Following a request by the prosecutor to unseal the decision then it would be made public.

Sudan Tribune, The Washington Post and The New York Times had all independently reported this month that the judges in fact already came to a decision to issue an arrest warrant.

However it is not clear on what charges the arrest warrant would be issued.

The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed last July an application with the judges requesting the issuance of an arrest warrant for Bashir on 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.

(ST)