ICC asks Saudi Arabia to arrest al-Bashir in Mecca News
ICC asks Saudi Arabia to arrest al-Bashir in Mecca

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] issued an order [text, PDF] last week asking authorities in Saudi Arabia to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archives] while he is on pilgrimage in Mecca currently. The order came in response [ST report] to an urgent request from the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Wednesday asking for cooperation of Riyadh to apprehend al-Bashir. Because Saudi Arabia is not a state party to the ICC’s founding charter, it is not obligated to cooperate with the court. However, the two arrest warrants against al-Bashir have been provided, and all states and international organizations are urged to cooperate fully.

The ICC has continually faced difficulties in enforcing its arrest warrants against al-Bashir. The court issued an arrest warrant in 2009 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and charged al-Bashir with three counts of genodice [JURIST reports] in 2010. In March more than 30 human rights and civil society organizations called for the arrest [JURIST report] of al-Bashir, expressing grave concern of his continued impunity. In September last year Amnesty International [advocacy website] called upon [JURIST report] members of the UN to demand al-Bashir turn himself in to the ICC.