A South African judge yesterday Sunday June 14th barred Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country after the International Criminal Court called for him to be arrested at the
AU summit in Johannesburg.
Bashir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the
Darfur conflict, mostly travels to countries that have not joined the ICC, but South Africa is a signatory of the court's statutes.
The ruling was the first time any court has prevented a head of state from leaving a country following a request by the ICC, but Sudanese
officials remained defiant, insisting Bashir would return home on schedule. The Southern African Litigation Centre, a legal rights group, had launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court to force authorities to arrest Bashir on the opening day of the African Union summit.
"President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is prohibited from leaving the Republic of South Africa until the
final order is made in this application," Judge Hans Fabricius said in his ruling. "The respondents are directed to take all necessary steps to prevent him from doing so."
Despite the arrest calls, Bashir joined a group photograph of leaders at the summit.
Wearing a blue suit, he stood in the front row for the photograph along with South African host President Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is the chair of the 54- member group. "We will leave on time as scheduled," Sudan Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters. "We are not abiding with any... decision of any
court. We are here as guests of the government of South Africa.
Assurances have been made by that
government."
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