Sudan: ICC 'seeks to have Bashir handed over'

• Mr Fadi El Abdallah, an International Criminal Court (ICC) spokesperson, told Middle East Eye (MEE) that the arrest warrants against Sudan's former president, Omar Al-Bashir, remained valid
• "The two arrest warrants delivered by the ICC judges for Mr al-Bashir remain valid," he said
• "The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council"
• Sources tell MEE that the Hague-based court will petition Khartoum's new government to hand over longtime autocrat
• Legal expert Mohamed Omer Shomena told MEE that the new council was aiming to hand over Bashir if asked by the ICC
• The Alliance of Sudanese Lawyers has vowed to collect and submit hundreds of cases against Bashir

Article from Middle East Eye.net

By MOHAMMED AMIN in Khartoum

Dated Monday 02 September 2019 14:12 UTC 

Sudan: ICC 'seeks to have Bashir handed over' as Khartoum trial opens old wounds

Photo: Bashir admitted in court that he had received $25m from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sent in cash on a private jet (Reuters)

The appearance of ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in court for the first time last month has encouraged the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as many Sudanese, to bring their own cases against the former leader, sources have told Middle East Eye.

MEE understands that the ICC is among several international institutions seeking justice for alleged crimes committed during Bashir's 30-year rule, with sources saying that the intergovernmental organisation is preparing to submit an official request to urge Sudan's new transitional government to hand over Bashir to the Hague-based court for alleged crimes in the Darfur region. 

Bashir is wanted by the ICC after it issued an arrest warrant against him in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, rape and torture. In 2010, pre-trial judges issued a new warrant with additional charges, including genocide.

Sudan's former president was formally charged on Saturday with illicit possession of foreign currency and corruption, after being charged in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters during the demonstrations that led to his overthrow in April.

However, others affected argue that the current trial is merely a cosmetic exercise that seeks to brush over many of Bashir's alleged crimes. 

Lawyers and activists are preparing to lodge more serious charges, including the toppling of the democratically elected government in 1989, much larger cases of corruption, and the deaths of protesters on earlier occasions.

New ruling council

Sudan's new 11-member sovereign council, which was sworn in last month, is made up of military and civilian representatives.

The council will govern for the next three years and three months, ultimately paving the way for democratic elections.

Salih Mahmoud, a leading member of the Darfur Bar Association, told MEE that the ICC will ask the new cabinet to hand over Bashir to the court. 

Mahmoud, a legal expert and award-winning human rights activist, said that the new ruling council faced a critical decision as it was part of its responsibility to impose justice and to cooperate with the international community and the institutions of international justice. 

The Sudanese Military Council (TMC), which led the country from the ousting of Bashir in April until the formation of the new military-civilian sovereign council last month, repeatedly stressed it could not decide the fate of the president regarding the ICC arrest warrant against him.

The TMC generals argued that the possible handover of Bashir was something that should be determined after the end of a transitional period and the election of a new government after three years. 

“We have credible information that the ICC judges will urge the new regime of Sudan to hand over Bashir as soon as possible because it's now a democratic government and supposed to be committed to international laws," said Mahmoud.

'Arrest warrants remain valid'

Fadi El Abdallah, an ICC spokesperson, told MEE that the arrest warrants against Bashir remained valid.

"The two arrest warrants delivered by the ICC judges for Mr al-Bashir remain valid," he said. 

"The court has and will continue seeking the compliance of Sudan with its obligation under international law and in relation to the resolution 1539 of the United Nations Security Council."

Abdallah also added that if the Sudanese government wanted Bashir to be tried in Sudan, it must demonstrate that a genuine national investigation and prosecution will be conducted, among other conditions.

Legal expert Mohamed Omer Shomena told MEE that the new council was aiming to hand over Bashir if asked by the ICC.

Shomena said that Bashir could be tried inside Sudan but that situation would require major reforms to the entire justice system following 30 years of corruption, interventions by the government, and the lack of any independence.

“I do believe that the Sudanese judges and courts are ethically and technically eligible to prosecute Bashir, but that also needs a huge reformation process to our judiciary system, as well as a lot of amendments and new laws to match the international laws and respect for human rights. 

“The objective of judicial reform in Sudan is very important not only for Bashir’s trial but also for the entire transitional justice, accountability and good governance in Sudan in the coming period, and this is the only way to achieve the goals of the revolution."

Hundreds of cases 

In the meantime, the Alliance of Sudanese Lawyers has vowed to collect and submit hundreds of cases against Bashir.

Those cases include alleged atrocities in war zones, the killing of protesters and other civilians, missing persons, and the thousands of people dismissed from their jobs for political reasons.

Wail Ali Saeed, a leading member of the Alliance of Sudanese Lawyers, told MEE that they had prepared dozens of cases against Bashir, especially from families of protesters killed during the September 2013 nationwide protests in which more than 170 people died, as well as the recent wave of protests from December 2018 to April 2019 that saw Bashir's overthrow. 

"We have done a lot of work and we have a lot of work still to be done... We have divided ourselves into groups to reach any Sudanese, or their relatives, that faced any kind of violations during Bashir's era," he said. 

"We have reached a lot of victims and families and we will continue gathering these cases as we will submit all of these cases to the court, especially after the appointment of the new independent general prosecutor and chief of justice in the country." 

Sulema Ishag, a leading member of an initiative by activists to seek justice for Sudanese victims, told MEE that they were coordinating with independent lawyers to gather evidence over the different kinds of violations, especially against women, in order to submit legal cases against Bashir.  

“We are a large number of activists who are worried about the achievement of justice for the victims in Sudan because we believe that justice is the first step for the stability of Sudan," said Ishag. 

Gulf money trail

Activists and lawyers have also highlighted the disclosure during last month's case of the receipt of money personally by Bashir from Saudi Arabia.

Bashir admitted in court that he had received $25m from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sent in cash on a private jet.

The former president said he used the money for donations and not for his own benefit. 

Dismissing Bashir's claims, Saeed said that the case showed how Bashir and his assistants dealt with public money. 

An investigator had previously told the court that Bashir received a total of $90m in cash from Saudi royals.

Sudanese army and intelligence members who searched Bashir’s residence in April found around $7m of foreign currency.

Saeed said given the other figures involved, the $7m for which Bashir was being charged in the current case was insignificant.

“This court [case] is nothing actually... I do believe that the stealing of $7m is nothing and it's a shame on all of us if it's considered that this case is enough for the accountability of Bashir," he said. 

"The involvement of the ousted president with the Gulf in their competition for access, and his attempt to play off the different sides to get money to overcome his economic crisis, has caused a lot of corruption and mismanagement of the money and we will pick up this point from this court [case]."

Sudan swears in new Sovereign Council

Read More »

Sudan's Bashir indicted as he admits to receiving millions from Saudi crown prince

Read More »

SOURCE: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hundreds-more-seek-justice-bashir-trial-reawakens-old-wounds

Sudan: Omar al-Bashir had cash worth $113m: $90m from Saudi royal family - $25m sent to him by Prince Mohammed bin Salman to use outside state budget

Article from the Financial Times

By TOM WILSON in Nairobi 

Dated Friday 23 August 2019

Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir faces court reckoning 

Photo:  Dictator who loomed over country for a generation faces corruption charges Omar al-Bashir sits inside a cage as corruption charges are read out © Reuters 

Thirty years after seizing power in a military coup and four months after widespread protests forced him from office, Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, once one of the most notorious leaders on the African continent, this week appeared in court. 

He appeared not at the International Criminal Court that charged him with genocide in 2010 for trying to wipe out non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, but in the east African country he has dominated for the past three decades. 

Dressed in immaculate white robes, Mr Bashir sat in a black metal cage as prosecutors and investigators described the corruption charges against him. 

The former president, who is expected to plead not guilty, spoke only to confirm his name, his age and his residence ” Khartoum’s Kober prison. 

For the millions of Sudanese citizens that struggled under his dictatorial regime and the hundreds of thousands that protested since December for his removal, it was a huge moment. “Bashir was the symbol of the regime since 1989,” said Wasil Ali, a Sudanese commentator and the former deputy editor of the Sudan Tribune, an online newspaper.  “People seeing him in court breaks a longstanding condition, it allows them to feel that Bashir is gone.” 

Despite an international arrest warrant, US sanctions and countless civil conflicts, Mr Bashir had clung to power, looming over the country for a generation. Ever present, barely a day went by without him giving a statement or making an appearance on state television. 

But as symbolic as the trial is, many also fear that the prosecution will not be sufficient to deliver justice. “It is a relief to see Bashir behind bars but we think this is not enough,” said Amjed Farid, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the groups that spearheaded the demonstrations that led to his ousting. “The current case against him is about money laundering and dealing in foreign currency [but] we don’t think this is the only crime that Bashir committed.”  

Though more charges could follow, Mr Bashir is currently accused of illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner after a raid of his home in April, in which military officers said they found cash in at least three currencies worth $113m. 

At this week’s hearing, a police officer testified that Mr Bashir had admitted that some of the money was part of $90m he had received from members of the Saudi royal family, including the current de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

“The accused told us that the money was part of a sum of $25m sent to him by Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be used outside of the state budget,” police Brigadier General Ahmed Ali told the court. 

The revelation was further evidence of prolonged efforts by Saudi Arabia to maintain influence in Sudan. In 2015 Mr Bashir agreed to send thousands of troops to support the Saudi-led war in Yemen and in April, Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates were quick to back Sudan’s new military leaders. 

That Mr Bashir had received personal payments from another leader would have been shocking to many Sudanese, said Mr Ali, but pales in comparison to the violence and war crimes of which he also stands accused. “To see him on corruption [charges], I think that fuels a suspicion that the government is not serious about really prosecuting for the crimes that really matters,” he said. 

Over 30 years Mr Bashir’s secret police terrorised opponents, while his army officers led murderous military campaigns in the now independent South Sudan and in Darfur, South Kordofan and other regions of the country. 

Part of the problem is that under a transitional agreement signed last week, civilian administrators will share power for the next three years with military officers, all of whom served Mr Bashir loyally until his ousting and some of whom were directly involved in some of the former regime’s worst atrocities. 

Still, the SPA’s Mr Farid said there was little appetite in Sudan to hand Mr Bashir over to the International Criminal Court, which issued warrants for his arrest in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The next hearing in Sudan is due in September.

“It is right for the Sudanese people to see Bashir facing justice in Sudan but this is conditioned on sufficient legal reform to guarantee that justice has been served and that all victims can present their cases against him,” Mr Farid said. “He needs to answer to his crimes and we don’t think there is any place for him to hide.”

View original article: https://www.ft.com/content/d54aa7fe-c4cf-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9