ACIJLP demands the arrest of al-Bashir in Egypt

 

Cairo on 16/09/2012             

ACIJLP demands the arrest of al-Bashir in Egypt

The Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary expresses the dissatisfaction from the Egyptian government's situation of non-cooperation with the International Criminal Court,  which is representing in inviting the Egyptian government, the wanted  for criminal court and  the involved in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, to visit the land of Egypt.

 

In this connection, ACIJLP is not welcoming the invitation of the Egyptian government and its hosting for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, which contradicts with the distinctive role of Egypt and its efforts, on the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

 The Visit of  the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Egypt may represent the disregard of the role of the International Criminal Court in the consolidation of criminal justice and the protection of human rights, especially there are an decision issued from Pre-Trial Chamber of The International Criminal Court against  President Omer Al-Beshir, to meet the request of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on 14/ 7/2008 to issue a warrant of arrest, accussing him of committing war crimes, and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region since 2002, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians, and displaced more than 2.700000 million people others, according to the indictment issued by the prosecutor's office in The International Criminal Court and the United Nations.

 

The Centre points out that we should not be invoked by the immunities and official capacity of Al- Bashir, and a consideration must be given to Article 27 of the Rome Convention 1998, which states that: "1. This Statute shall apply to all persons equally without any discrimination based on official capacity. in particular, the official capacity of a person, whether as Head of State or Government, or member of a Government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official does not exempt him in any way from criminal responsibility under this Statute, nor does it constitute in itself, a reason for reduction of sentence.2 - immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, does not prevent the Court from exercising  it's jurisdiction over such a person. 

ACIJLP points out that, if it was true, the signatory states to the Rome Statue ,establishing the International Criminal Court, which are not ratified or acceded yet, do not bear any effective legal obligation however signing indicates the intentions of those states to take step expressing the acceptance of these obligations of the convention at a later date, since signing the convention creates an obligation upon the signatory states, in the period from signing to ratifying, to abstain (in a good faith) from doing actions which would suspend the essence of the convention or the purpose of it. According to Art. 18 of Vienna Convention for 1996, states that '' A State is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when:

(a) it has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, until it shall have made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; or

(b) it has expressed its consent to be bound by the treaty, pending the entry into force of the treaty and provided that such entry into force is not unduly delayed''

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession demands the Egyptian Attorney General to arrest al-Bashir and perform the procedures of extradition to the International Criminal Court since we are committed to the international obligations and the signing of the Rome Statute creating the court. 

ACIJLP also asks the signatory Arab governments, including the Egyptian government, not to obstruct the Court's role in the prosecution and accountability  of the involved in the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, and not to invite or host accused wanted by the court, and arrested if they are on its territory and hand them over to the International Criminal Court

 

It should be noted that the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010, on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, also accused him of responsibility for 10 crimes, including murder, forcible transfer of population, torture, rape and genocide. Egypt did not took into account the arrest warrants, and refrained from arresting Bashir during his previous visits, including a visit in March 2009, after weeks of issuing the International Criminal first arrest warrant against al-Bashir, and a visit in March 2011, when he met the ruling Militry Council at that time .