Why the ICC court put Sudan president AL Bashir on the most Wanted War Criminals

In this July 9, 2018, file photo, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir attends a ceremony for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey.

The first warrant for arrest for Sudan president Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir was issued on 4 March 2009, the second on 12 July 2010. The suspect is still at large.

Until Omar Al Bashir is arrested and transferred to the seat of the Court in The Hague, the case will remain in the Pre-Trial stage. The ICC does not try individuals unless they are present in the courtroom.

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Sudan, along with Iran, Syria and North Korea, is on Washington’s blacklist of state sponsors of “terrorism”.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide, came to power in a 1989 coup. He remains one of the longest-serving presidents in Africa.

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The ICC issued two arrest warrants against Omar Al Bashir for five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape), two counts of war crimes (intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities, and pillaging), and three counts of genocide allegedly committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur, Sudan, from 2003 to 2008.

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Bashir took control after a coup in 1989 and became President in 1993. He stands accused of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country’s Darfur region and was nearly arrested in 2015 while visiting South Africa.

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Many also blame Bashir for the ongoing suffering of the 2.5 million conflict-displaced Sudanese citizens who have been subject to militia and government-sponsored rape and torture in refugee camps. Bashir is having none of it.

He claims the indictment is part of a historic plot to break Sudan up into smaller states, refuses to recognize the court, and denies any wrongdoing.

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