Thursday 12 February 2009

Bashir Arrest Warrant Decision

Today’s New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court has decided to issue an arrest warrant against President el Bashir of Sudan: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/africa/12hague.html?ref=world
But the Court issued a denial, saying no decision had been taken. So did the United Nations, http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/exeres/A3275BE5-2D68-4962-9C11-90FAA646BF20.htm.
The New York Times article is by Marlise Simons, who is very well informed and reliable, and I don’t think she made up the story. She does not refer to the sources, nor does she suggest this was officially announced by the Court, which it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean she is wrong. Obviously she has been told that a decision has been taken by reliable sources, and I don't see any reason to doubt this. She says that the Court has already informed the United Nations Secretary-General.
The warrant itself will almost certainly be issued within the next week or two. The only real issue in any doubt is whether it will include charges of genocide, as requested by the Prosecutor.

1 comment:

Alejandro said...

we are all eagerly awaiting this decision and even more so what the charges will be! To many times we hear this idea that it will destroy the ongoing peace processes in these countries, but it's clearly evident that there is not much of a movement towards peace from these perpetrators.

We are also following this case very closely over at:

http://ijcentral.org

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