Sri Lanka Civil Society Condemns South Africa For Not Handing Over Sudanese President to ICC
Omar al-Bashir
16/06/2015
STATEMENT OF CONCERN ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT’S FAILURE TO ARREST AND SURRENDER PRESIDENT AL-BASHIR TO THE ICC
We, the undersigned groups and individuals in Sri Lanka, express our deep disappointment and outrage over the failure of the South African authorities to apprehend and detain President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan during his recent visit to South Africa for an African Union (AU) summit. This is in a context where President al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Not only was President al-Bashir permitted to participate in a highly publicized conference, he was also permitted to leave South Africa in direct violation of an interim order issued on Sunday 14 June by a High Court in Pretoria. This direct violation of the court’s order rendered unenforceable the same court’s welcome ruling the following day that the failure of the authorities to arrest al-Bashir was unconstitutional, and that al-Bashir be arrested and detained pending surrender to the ICC.
We, the undersigned groups and individuals in Sri Lanka, express our deep disappointment and outrage over the failure of the South African authorities to apprehend and detain President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan during his recent visit to South Africa for an African Union (AU) summit. This is in a context where President al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Not only was President al-Bashir permitted to participate in a highly publicized conference, he was also permitted to leave South Africa in direct violation of an interim order issued on Sunday 14 June by a High Court in Pretoria. This direct violation of the court’s order rendered unenforceable the same court’s welcome ruling the following day that the failure of the authorities to arrest al-Bashir was unconstitutional, and that al-Bashir be arrested and detained pending surrender to the ICC.
