Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who has international arrest warrants for crimes against humanity and genocide, is set to visit China to mark World War II commemorations next week.
The reported visit has sparked outrage from human rights groups who have repeatedly called for Mr Bashir’s arrest.
“It is outrageous that anyone would welcome him into their border without arresting him,” said Tom Andrews, president of the Save Darfur Coalition.
His comments were echoed by Elise Keppler, acting director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, who said “Omar al-Bashir should be in The Hague facing justice, not in China celebrating at their World War II event”.
“Experience has shown that fugitives may be able to evade justice for a time, but not indefinitely,” she added.
Earlier this week, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called on the United States to grant Sudan’s fugitive president Omar al-Bashir a visa to entry the country for an upcoming United Nations summit and then arrest him on arrival.
In June, Mr Bashir was allowed to attend an African Union summit in South Africa last week, despite having a warrant for his arrest. He then left the country by plane with the tacit approval of the South African government, despite a court ruling to the contrary.
See more in our earlier posts:
South Africa threatens to leave ICC (25 Jun 2015)
SA court criticises government failure to detain al-Bashir (24 Jun 2015)
The reported visit has sparked outrage from human rights groups who have repeatedly called for Mr Bashir’s arrest.
“It is outrageous that anyone would welcome him into their border without arresting him,” said Tom Andrews, president of the Save Darfur Coalition.
His comments were echoed by Elise Keppler, acting director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, who said “Omar al-Bashir should be in The Hague facing justice, not in China celebrating at their World War II event”.
“Experience has shown that fugitives may be able to evade justice for a time, but not indefinitely,” she added.
Earlier this week, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called on the United States to grant Sudan’s fugitive president Omar al-Bashir a visa to entry the country for an upcoming United Nations summit and then arrest him on arrival.
In June, Mr Bashir was allowed to attend an African Union summit in South Africa last week, despite having a warrant for his arrest. He then left the country by plane with the tacit approval of the South African government, despite a court ruling to the contrary.
See more in our earlier posts:
South Africa threatens to leave ICC (25 Jun 2015)
SA court criticises government failure to detain al-Bashir (24 Jun 2015)
Civil society activists ‘outraged’ at South African failure to arrest Bashir (17 June 2015)
South Africa allows suspected war criminal al-Bashir to leave, despite court order (15 Jun 2015)
Arrest war crimes accused Sudanese president - TAG (15 June 2015)
ICC urges South Africa to arrest Sudan's President Bashir (14 June 2015)