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Southern Africa Litigation Centre v. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development (N. Gauteng High Ct., Pretoria)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Dugard
John Dugard*
Affiliation:
Judge ad hoc International Court of Justice
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Extract

In June 2015, President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir of Sudan attended a meeting of the African Union (AU) in Johannesburg, South Africa, despite the fact that a warrant had been issued for his arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in the Darfur region. Although South Africa, a party to the ICC, was obliged to arrest Al Bashir and surrender him to the ICC under the terms of the Rome Statute of the ICC, the South African government made no attempt to apprehend him. On the application of a South African public interest law firm, the North Gauteng High Court ordered that the government was required by law to arrest and detain Al Bashir. Al Bashir was, however, allowed to leave South Africa.

Type
International Legal Materials
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 54 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 927 - 944
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2015

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References

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at Southern African Legal Institute (visited October 12, 2015), http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2015/402.html.

1 S. Afr. Litig. Ctr. v. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Dev. (2015) ZAGPPHC 402 (S. Afr.).

2 Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002 § 4(2)(a) BSRSA (updated through 2014).

3 Draft Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, Afr. Union, art. 46Abis, May 15, 2014, https://www.iccnow.org/documents/African_Court_Protocol_-_July_2014.pdf.

4 Ilham, Rawoot & Jazmin, Acuña, Livni Cancels SA Trip After Arrest Threats , Mail & Guardian (Jan. 21, 2011)Google Scholar, http://mg.co.za/article/2011-01-21-livni-cancels-sa-tripafter-arrest-threats.

5 Nat’l Comm’r of S. Afr. Police Serv. v. S. Afr. Litig. Ctr. 2014 (12) BCLR 1428 (CC) (S. Afr.).

6 Prosecutor v. Al Bashir, ICC-02/05-01/09, Decision Following the Prosecutor’s Request for an Order Further Clarifying that the Republic of South Africa is under the Obligation to Immediately Arrest and Surrender Omar Al Bashir, ¶ 8 (June 13, 2015).

7 Prosecutor v. Al Bashir, ICC-02/05-01/09, Decision On the Cooperation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Regarding Omar Al Bashir’s Arrest and Surrender to the Court (Apr. 9, 2014).

8 S. Afr. Litig. Ctr., supra note 1, ¶ 28.13.1.

9 Id. ¶ 37.2.

10 Thulani, Gqirana, DA Threatens Court Action , Mail And Guardian (Aug. 13, 2015)Google Scholar, http://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-13-da-threatens-court-action-against-parliament.

11 Moses, Walubiri, I Can’t Arrest Bashir- Museveni , New Vision (Uganda) (Aug. 11, 2015)Google Scholar, http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/672059-i-cant-arrest-bashir-museveni.html.

12 Sam, Mkokeli, ANC Resolves to Lead Continent in Mass Pullout from the ICC , Business Day (Oct. 12, 2015)Google Scholar, http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2015/10/12/anc-resolves-to-leadcontinent-in-mass-pullout-from-the-icc.