Sudan’s Chief Justice ‘cannot refer Al Bashir to The Haque’

Referral of ousted President Omar Al Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Haque does not fall within the competence of Chief Justice Nemat Abdallah.

In response to queries from Irfan Siddiq, British Ambassador to Sudan, visiting the chief justice in Khartoum on Thursday, Abdallah stated that the decision about the extradition of Al Bashir and other former leaders indicted by the ICC is the “prerogative of other authorities”.

She pointed out that the Sudanese judiciary with its qualified cadres is capable of adjudicating all cases in the country, the official Sudan News Agency reported on Thursday.

Siddiq expressed his country's readiness to exchange experiences, and support the judiciary in Sudan, in all fields, including capacity-building.

He extended an invitation to the head of the Sudanese judiciary, to attend the Conference on the Status of Women in Criminal Justice, to be held in London on November 18 and 19.

Nemat Abdallah, appointed in October, is the first woman in the Arab world and the eighth woman in Africa who assumed the post of Chief Justice.

Arrest warrants

In 2007, the ICC issued arrest warrants against former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and former janjaweed leader Ali 'Kushayb' for numerous counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The court issued a first arrest warrant against the now ousted President Omar Al Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009. The second indictment, for genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes in Darfur, followed a year later.

A warrant against former Minister of Interior Affairs, Abdelrahim Hussein, was issued in 2012, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur.

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