Amnesty International reacted favorably on Tuesday to reports that the authorities in Sudan are considering handing over former President Omar al-Bashir and other indicted individuals to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer charges including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in the Darfur region.
“Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over the murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape of hundreds of thousands of people during the conflict in Darfur. A decision to hand him over to the court would be a welcome step towards justice for victims and their families – it is a historic outrage that, despite being under arrest warrants for more than a decade, al-Bashir has evaded justice until now,” said Amnesty International’s Acting Secretary General Julie Verhaar.
“The Sudanese authorities should translate these words into action and immediately transfer al-Bashir and other individuals under ICC arrest warrant to The Hague. They should further show that the era of impunity for al-Bashir’s government is over by bringing to justice all other alleged perpetrators of horrific crimes of the previous regime.”
