The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP) strongly condemns and denounces the attacks perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces on April 10 and 11 against the Zamzam Camp. The assaults led to the death of over 300 civilians, including elderly people and women—among them 10 members of a single family, the Abdullah Suleiman family—while more than 500 people sustained injuries. Thousands more were forcibly displaced to the El Fasher area, which itself endures military attacks amid dire humanitarian conditions.

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Lawyer Nasser Amin has represented victims of Darfur of Sudan case before the International Criminal Court (ICC). On May 26, Amin has completed the verbal pleadings of the confirmation of charges hearing against Ali Kushayb, the Janjaweed militias’ commander, and one of the suspects in that case.

Notably, and after voluntarily surrendering himself to the ICC in The Hague, Ali Kushayb got accused in 31 charges that varies between war crimes and war against humanity. Kushayb attended the confirmation of charges hearing held from the 24^th to the 26^th of May, 2021.

Nasser Amin is calling upon all victims affected by the attacks that took place between 2003 and 2004 in the regions of Dilij, Bindisi, Kadoum and Wadi Saleh areas in West Darfur state, to participate in the trial procedures by submitting requests to participate in the procedures, given the importance of this in implementing the principle of victims participation in trial procedures in accordance with the statute of the court.

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 .

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) calls upon the Sudanese Government the necessity to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an independent international judicial mechanism. In the same context the ACIJLP urges the Sudanese Government to approve the request of the Prosecutor of the ICC to hand over Abdel Raheem Mohamed Hussein who is accused of committing forty-one crime against humanity and war crimes which falls within the jurisdiction of the ICC, in accordance with the provisions of Article V of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Such crimes are allegedly committed in the context of the situation in Darfur.

The ACIJLP also urges the Sudanese government to cooperate with the Prosecutor of the ICC because such cooperation may be the best and correct way to solve the crisis in Darfur which was referred to the ICC under Security Council’s resolution no. 1593 (2005) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

The ACIJLP calls upon the Sudanese Government that the impartiality and integrity of the ICC and guarantees for the accused to appear before the ICC in accordance with paragraphs (a, b, c, e, d) of article 66 and article 67 of the Rome Statute capable of ensure guarantees of fair trial for defendants and will make the trial far from taking a political character. It should be noted that the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court, issued on 1^st March 2012, a warrant of arrest against the above mentioned accused, after a request submitted by the ICC’s Prosecutor which make the court reach the conclusion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused bears criminal responsibility of 20 crime against humanity and 21 war crime .

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP) expresses its deep concern about the practices of the Sudanese government towards the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, which represents explicitly violation of international instruments and commitments in particular Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that ” The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.. “

The events in the city of Omdurman, Sudan – Khartoum – raises many concerns about the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly in the Sudan; where the Sudanese security forces, on Monday 7 December 2009, used excessive force against a peaceful march before the National Sudanese Council – Parliament – resulted in the arrest of several demonstrators, and injuries to “Yasser Arman”, Deputy of General Secretary of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of the Sudan, and a member of the Sudanese Parliament

What raises the concerns of the Center is that the Sudanese opposition, which organized this peace march, had already informed the security authorities of this march.

The Sudanese opposition has called for this march to present a memorandum to the National Sudanese Council claiming for legislative amendments to the laws restricting freedoms like the National Security Act, the referendum law on the fate of southern Sudan, and the law of the popular consultation of the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile region, as well as demanding for the current political situation in Sudan.. While the Center condemns these practices of the Sudanese security organs, it urges the Sudanese government to respect its international obligations and commitments, and to ensure the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, as well as the immediate release of Sudanese detainees who were arrested in this march .

The international day of criminal justice this year witnesses the eleventh anniversary of the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court. In this day the Statute of the International Criminal Court was approved on July 17^th 1998 as an international and independent judicial mechanism jurisdiction to prosecute and hold those involved to commit the most hideous crimes against humanity, like crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity in addition to war crimes and the crime of aggression.

In spite that 11 years was passed after the adoption of the Statute of the Court – the number of ratifications raised to 108 ratifications –  the number of Arab countries’ ratifications did not exceed three ratifications, which are: Jordan, on April 11^th  2002 ,Djibouti on November 5^th  2002 and the Comoros on  August 18^th 2006.  The number of Arab countries’ signatories on the Convention is 13 countries, which are: Egypt, on December 26^th 2000, Algeria on December 28^th 2000, Morocco on September 8^th 2000, Sudan on September 8^th 2000, Syria on November 29^th 2000, Kuwait on September 8^th 2000, United Arab Emirates on November 27^th 2000, Bahrain on December 11^th  2000, the Sultanate of Oman on December 20^th 2000, Yemen on December 28^th 2000,  until now 8 Arab countries still didn’t sign the convention which are: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Mauritania, Tunisia and Libya.

On this occasion, the Center calls upon the Governments of the Arab countries to ratify and to accede to the International Criminal Court, also appealed to Arab civil society organizations to intensify and coordinate their efforts to raise the legal awareness of the court, as an international mechanism to establish the international criminal justice, and to protect human rights, as well as the intensification of the appeals of these organizations of the Arab governments to ratify the Statute of the Court.

The Center calls upon the signatories Arab governments, not to obstruct the Court’s role in the prosecution and accountability of those involved in the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court, and not to host persons wanted by the court, as happened on the hosting of some Arab governments signatory to the Court of President Omar al-Bashir.

In this context, the Center doesn’t welcome the hosting by the Egyptian government of President Omar al-Bashir, which contrasts with the role of Premier role of Egypt, and its efforts on the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Furthermore, the Center indicates that, although it is true, that the signatories of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court – which has not yet ratified or acceded – do not take their legal obligations effectively, however, that the signature indicates the intention of these countries to take steps for the expression of consent to be bound by the treaty at a later date as the signing of the Convention creates an obligation for the signatory States in the period between signature and ratification, acceptance or approval, and in good faith to refrain from acts of behavior that would disrupt the subject and purpose of the treaty, in accordance with article 18 of the Vienna convention, which stipulates that “a state or an international organization is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when: (a) that state or that organization has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the treaty subject to ratification, act of formal confirmation, acceptance or approval, until that State or that organization shall have made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; (a) or that state or that organization 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.”

It should be noted that the rule of this article applies to the Arab States signed the Rome Statute establishing the court.