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SA court bid to have Al-Bashir arrested

by News24
14 Jun 2015 at 06:04hrs | Views
Johannesburg - The Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) will on Sunday bring an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria to compel South African authorities to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, News24 reported.

It wants him to be handed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes while he is still in South Africa, SALC lawyer Caroline James said.

''We just want to ensure that he is arrested before he leaves South Africa. As far as we understand, he is still here.''

Al-Bashir arrived in South Africa on Saturday night to attend the African Union summit underway in Sandton on Sunday.

The ICC called on South Africa to respect its obligations to co-operate with the court. The President of the Assembly of States to the Rome Statute of the ICC, Sidiki Kaba, said two arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Al-Bashir remained outstanding.

Human rights organisation, Amnesty International, also joined in calls for the arrest of Al-Bashir.

"Al-Bashir is a fugitive from justice," Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International's research and advocacy director for Africa, said in a statement.

"If the government of President Zuma fails to arrest him, it would have done nothing, save to give succour to a leader who is accused of being complicit in the killing, maiming, and torture of hundreds of thousands of people in a conflict that has blighted the lives of millions."

Source - Nwes24
More on: #Sudan, #ICC