The International Criminal Court has charged Bashir with genocide in Darfur
By Thin Lei Win
BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Amnesty International has urged the Malaysian government to arrest Sudan’s president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), during a planned visit to the Southeast Asian country later this week.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur.
Bashir, who denies the charges and says they are part of a Western conspiracy, is due to participate in the Langkawi International Dialogue, an economic forum taking place in Malaysia from June 19-21.
“The Malaysian government should bar Bashir from its territory, and arrest him if he turns up,” Donna Guest, Amnesty’s deputy Asia Pacific director, said in a statement.
“Malaysia should not turn itself into a port of call for fugitives from international justice.”
Malaysia is currently not party to the Rome Statute of the ICC – the treaty that established the court, which investigates, prosecutes and tries individuals accused of committing war crimes. But Kuala Lumpur expressed its intention in March to become a party, and recognises the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Currently only 114 countries, including 15 Asian nations, have ratified the ICC.
In this context, Malaysia’s invitation to Bashir “flies in the face of its decision to join the ICC”, Guest said.
Since the ICC first issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in March 2009, he has travelled to numerous African countries in defiance of the court, including Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Chad and most recently Djibouti.
"Countries that are welcoming Bashir are sending a terrible message to victims on their commitment to accountability and the arrest of the perpetrators of these crimes," Elise Keppler of New York-based Human Rights Watch said of the Djibouti visit.
The ICC has struggled to have its suspects arrested because it has no police force of its own and relies on state co-operation for arrests to be carried out.
The United Nations says as many as 300,000 may have died since the Darfur conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms, accusing the government of neglecting the region. Khartoum puts the number of deaths at closer to 10,000.
At the end of 2010, more than 2.9 million people had been uprooted by the violence inside Darfur and 260,000 had fled to Chad, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
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