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Tag: ICC

  • Bashir leaves Nigeria, ICC demands arrest

    Bashir leaves Nigeria, ICC demands arrest

    Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has left Nigeria, where his presence at a one-day African Union HIV/AIDS summit defied International Criminal Court (ICC) calls for his arrest on charges of genocide and war crimes, officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

    His press secretary and Nigerian hosts both denied reports in the local media that he had left early fearing arrest.

    Monday’s summit lasted one day and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was the only African leader who stayed on until Tuesday, an official at a breakfast for them at the presidency that morning said.

    “President Bashir returned normally to Khartoum after participating in the summit in Abuja to resume his work in Khartoum,” his press secretary Emad Said told Reuters.

    Bashir, who is accused of masterminding genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region in which some 200,000 people were killed, arrived in Nigeria on Sunday, to the chagrin of human rights campaigners.

    The New York-based Human Rights Watch and the British government both expressed dismay at the decision to let him in, and a local activist group filed a court petition demanding his arrest, in line with Nigeria’s obligations under the ICC treaty.

    The ICC’s pre-trial chamber said on Tuesday it had asked Nigeria to arrest Bashir and hand him to the ICC the day before.

    The African Union voted in 2009 not to cooperate with the ICC indictments against Bashir. Nigeria’s presidency says its decision to allow him in was in keeping with that decision.

    African enthusiasm for the court has waned over the years, partly owing to a perception that prosecutors disproportionately target African leaders, a charge the ICC denies.

     

  • Al-Bashir: AU position superior to ICC warrant – Ashiru

    Al-Bashir: AU position superior to ICC warrant – Ashiru

    Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, on Monday said Nigeria shunned an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant on Sudan President’s Omar al-Bashir because of its commitment to African Union position on the issue.

    Al-Bashir arrived in Nigeria on Sunday for an AU Summit on HIV and AIDS to the consternation of rights groups that had called for his arrest following his indictment by the ICC for alleged crimes in Darfur.

    He is accused of masterminding genocide and other atrocities during the Darfur conflict, a charge he had repeatedly denied.

    Ashiru, who is currently in Brazil for a meeting, said: “Sudan’s President is in Nigeria at the invitation of AU for the HIV and AIDS Malaria Summit.

    “Remember AU in 2009 passed a resolution not to cooperate with the ICC on the indictment of President Al Bashir.

    “However, he is not in Nigeria at our instance as Nigeria’s commitment to the AU remains firm,” Ashiru wrote in an e-mail to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    In a statement on Sunday, Elsie Keppler, Human Rights Watch International Justice Programme Director, criticised Nigeria for being the West African country to welcome the ICC fugitive.

    The director said that Nigeria was the first West African country to welcome the Sudanese president.

    “This stands in stark contrast to the leadership of South Africa, Malawi and other African states, who have made clear he’d be arrested or avoided his visits.

    “Al-Bashir is sought on the gravest crimes committed in Darfur and Nigeria’s hosting is an affront to victims,” Keppler said.

     

  • Why Nigeria is hosting al-Bashir – Presidency

    Why Nigeria is hosting al-Bashir – Presidency

    The Presidency on Monday defended welcoming Sudan President Omar al-Bashir to the country for an African Union health summit despite war crimes charges against him, saying it cannot interfere in AU affairs.

    The Sudanese leader arrived Abuja on Sunday for the summit on HIV/AIDS, turberculosis and malaria despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

    AFP reports that the summit is due to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

    Rights activists in Nigeria planned to go to court on Monday to force al- Bashir’s arrest.

    “The event that is taking place is an AU summit,” Reuben Abati, spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan, told AFP.

    “Nigeria is just hosting it. It’s not Nigeria that invited him. He’s not here on a bilateral visit. He’s here to participate in an AU summit, and Nigeria is not in a position to determine who attends an AU event and who does not attend … Nigeria is just providing the platform for the meeting,” Abati added.

    The ICC had issued two warrants against al- Bashir over the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, where government forces and local Arab militias have been pitted against rebels drawn mainly from non-Arab populations.

     

  • ICC rejects bid to stall Gbagbo’s trial

    ICC rejects bid to stall Gbagbo’s trial

    The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday rejected a challenge to the admissibility of the case against former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Gbagbo was arrested in April 2011 and transferred to the ICC to face charges of alleged crimes against humanity in Cote d’Ivoire between December 16, 2010 and April 12, 2011.

    A statement released by the ICC in New York, stated that Gbagbo’s defence team challenged the admissibility of the case before the ICC in February.

    It said a challenge to the admissibility of the case was granted if the case was being investigated or prosecuted by a State which had jurisdiction over it, or the State was unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out the investigation or prosecution.

    According to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, the parties had the possibility to appeal a decision on admissibility.

    The statement, however, said that the ICC ruled on Tuesday there was no a national case under way against Gbagbo.

    “Therefore, according to the pre-trial chamber, the case The Prosecutor vs. Laurent Gbagbo is still admissible before the ICC,” it noted.

    “The decision on the admissibility of the case is distinct from the decision made on June 3 by the same Chamber regarding whether or not to send the case against Mr. Gbagbo’s to trial.

    “On June 3, Pre-Trial Chamber I had indeed adjourned the hearing on the confirmation of charges and requested the Prosecutor to consider providing further evidence or conducting further investigations with respect to the charges presented against Laurent Gbagbo,” it stated.

     

  • ICC acquits Congo militia leader

    ICC acquits Congo militia leader

    Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui has been acquitted by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    The case related to the 2003 killings of 200 residents of Bogoro village in the mineral-rich Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, BBC reports.

    The court in the Hague heard reports of victims being burnt alive, babies smashed against walls and women raped.

    Mr. Ngudjolo denied ordering the attack, saying he learnt of it days later.

    He had been charged with seven counts of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity. Prosecutors said he had enlisted child soldiers to carry out the killings.

    But presiding Judge Bruno Cotte said the court acquitted Mr. Ngudjolo of all charges, saying the prosecution had “not proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was responsible” for the crimes committed.

    In its summary, the court stressed that the ruling does not mean it believes no crimes were committed in Bogoro “nor does it question what the people of this community have suffered on that day.”

    “The chamber also emphasised that the fact of deciding that an accused is not guilty does not necessarily mean that the chamber finds him innocent,” the ICC said in a statement.

    “Such a decision simply demonstrates that, given the standard of proof, the evidence presented to support his guilt has not allowed the chamber to form a conviction ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.”

    Judge Cotte ordered Mr. Ngudjolo’s immediate release, but prosecutor Fatou Besnouda said she intended to launch an appeal, and asked for him to be kept in custody.

    The verdict is only the second in the 10-year history of the ICC, and the first acquittal.

     

  • ICC prosecutor moves against amnesty for Libyan war crimes

    ICC prosecutor moves against amnesty for Libyan war crimes

    Libya should not grant amnesty for war crimes committed during last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, regardless of who committed them, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday.

    In her first official presentation to the United Nations Security Council as The Hague-based court’s top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda said that the ICC’s pre-trial chamber would decide “in due course” on whether the late Libyan leader’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi should be tried in Libya or The Hague.

    Bensouda recalled the Libyan authorities’ stated commitment to ensuring that there would be no impunity for crimes committed during the fight to overthrow Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October 2011 after a half-year civil war.

    She pointed to a recently approved Libyan law that raises the possibility of amnesty for “acts made necessary by the February 17 revolution,” apparently creating the possibility of not prosecuting crimes committed by anti-Gaddafi fighters.

    “I encourage the new Libyan government, scheduled to be sworn in on Thursday to ensure that there is no amnesty for international crimes and no impunity for crimes, regardless of who the perpetrator is and who is the victim,” Reuters quoted the ICC prosecutor as saying to the 15-nation council.

    Bensouda said she understood that the Libyan government has committed itself to a strategy of addressing all crimes committed in the country.

    “I encourage the government of Libya to make this strategy public, and to work with key partners to receive feedback on this strategy and to seek out the views and concerns of victims in Libya. Early finalization of this strategy will be yet another milestone on Libya’s path to democracy and rule of law.”

    Richard Dicker, an international law expert at Human Rights Watch, welcomed Bensouda’s remarks on the Libyan amnesty law, which he described as “an affront to victims of serious crimes and a flagrant violation … of Libya’s responsibilities.”

     

  • Civil War Genocide Allegation: I’m ready for ICC trial, says Gowon

    Civil War Genocide Allegation: I’m ready for ICC trial, says Gowon

    • ‘Awo and I have no regrets
    • Says Achebe is ignorant

     

    Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, told critics yesterday that he is ready to face trial anywhere over allegation that he and Federal Government under him starved millions of Igbo to death during the Civil War.

    He said Professor Chinua Achebe whose latest book ‘There was a country’, triggered the current frenzy over who played what role during the war, wrote out of ignorance.

    “It was the Igbos that objected to the creation of corridor for movements of medical aid and food supplies to the civilian population at the period and on this I am ready to face the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for prosecution over roles played by me when the war ended,” he told journalists in Minna, Niger State after a courtesy call on Governor Babangida Aliyu.

    “Fortunately, some Nigerians are still alive to bear witness to the roles played by both the leadership of the secessionist group and the then Federal Military government under my leadership.”

    Gen. Gowon who was in Minna for a two day prayer session organised by Nigeria Prays, said the secessionist leaders, more than anyone else, caused the massive deaths recorded in the defunct Biafra. He said contrary to allegations his government had no war policy to starve anyone to death.

    The high death toll in Biafra, according to him, was caused by their own propaganda machinery which claimed that the ‘Northern invaders’ were coming to their camps and that caused panic and pandemonium among their people because some people were trying to move from one location to the other out of fear of imaginary attacks by the so called northern invaders and without foods.

    “In fact, if there was no secession by the South Eastern part of the country, there would have been no civil war because right from the beginning of the crises the war would have been averted if not for the secession. It was something I believed we could have stopped,” General Gowon said.

    He cited an attempt by the secessionists to smuggle in arms in a ship named “Josina”. He said when the ship which they had claimed was carrying Agricultural Implements was captured by the Federal Troops and was subjected to a thorough search it was arms and ammunition that were found in it.

    He said he and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo have no regret whatsoever for playing the roles they played in the war.

    On Achebe, he said: “What role did Achebe play in the secessionist plans? Achebe must have been outside the country during the war and probably did not know what happened at the period otherwise he would not have written on what he was not sure of.”

    Achebe in his book had said: “It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations.

    “However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbo at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra War – his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams.

    “In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation – eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

     

  • ICC holds Saif Gaddafi’s hearing

    ICC holds Saif Gaddafi’s hearing

    The International Criminal Court is holding its first public hearing in the case of one of the sons of late Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam.

    He is accused of committing war crimes against the rebels who overthrew his father last year.

    But there is disagreement over whether he should be prosecuted in Libya or The Hague.

    His lawyers are expected to argue he would not receive a fair trial in Libya, where he is currently held.

    The Libyan authorities say he should be tried in the country where he is accused of committing crimes.

    At the beginning of the two-day hearing, Libyan lawyer Ahmed al-Jehani called for the international community to be patient, telling ICC judges the Libyan authorities “needed time” to organise a fair trial for Saif Gaddafi.

    The pre-trial session is part of an ongoing battle between Libya and the ICC over where the son of the former Libyan leader should face justice, the BBC says.

    Mr. Gaddafi has been held in the western mountain town of Zintan for almost a year.

    During that time, the Libyan authorities have repeatedly rejected requests to hand him over for trial in The Hague.

    The ICC’s defence lawyer, Melinda Taylor, who was arrested while visiting Mr. Gaddafi, will be presenting her findings during the hearing.

    She is expected to tell the judges she does not believe her client will receive a fair trial in Libya.

    The lawyers who have travelled from Tripoli will argue otherwise.