THE INTERNATIONAL Criminal Court’s pre-trial judges have decided to issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region, according to an official at the United Nations.
Mr Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be charged by the The Hague-based court with war crimes. The decision is expected to be announced within two weeks.
The judges’ decision comes nearly seven months after the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, accused Mr Bashir of directing a campaign of mass murder that has left more than 300,000 civilians dead and driven more than 2.7 million from their homes in Darfur.
The three-judge panel endorsed Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s claim that there is sufficient evidence to charge Mr Bashir with crimes against humanity and war crimes. But the panel rejected Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s contention that Mr Bashir has committed genocide. One of the three judges dissented.
Sudan’s ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said the charges are politically motivated and that his government will never surrender Mr Bashir for prosecution.