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| March 2, 2007 |
| International Criminal Court Names Two Suspects in Darfur Investigation By Anthony Dworkin |
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court this week this week named the first two suspects in his investigation into possible war crimes in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The men are Ahmad Muhammad Harun, a government minister who was formerly in charge of the “Darfur Security desk” in Sudan’s Interior Ministry, and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a commander in the janjaweed militia more commonly known as Ali Kushayb. The Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that the men were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and asked the Court to issue summonses requesting the men to appear before it. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo presented the Court’s judges with nearly 100 pages of evidence, which he said attested strongly to the suspects’ involvement in crimes including mass murder, rape and summary execution, and also illustrated the “operational system” by which atrocities in Darfur had been committed. The cases against the two men are the first results of a 20-month investigation by the Prosecutor’s office, which began after the UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in March 2005. The Prosecutor said he would bring charges against other people if he found sufficient evidence, and also emphasized that he was continuing to gather evidence of possible current crimes being committed both in Darfur and in the neighbouring countries of Chad and the Central African Republic. The Prosecutor said the investigation had been enormously difficult since his investigators were not given access to Darfur itself. Nevertheless he said he had been able to assemble detailed evidence against the two suspects by interviewing over 100 witnesses, many of them victims or eyewitnesses to attacks, and had also used official statements and documents provided by international organizations. According to Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, Ahmad Harun was the key government figure responsible for mobilizing, arming and funding the janjaweed militia. He had boasted, the Prosecutor alleged, of having “the power and authority to kill or forgive whoever in Darfur for the sake of peace and security,” and had told janjaweed militia fighters that the Fur tribe had become “booty” for them. Ali Kushayb had received arms from Harun at the same occasion, according to the Prosecutor’s account, and subsequently led attacks against several villages in which civilians were shot and raped and the villages destroyed. The Prosecutor also said that Ali Kushayb had personally participated in the summary execution of 32 people. It is now up to a Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to assess the evidence presented. If the judges agree that there are reasonable grounds to believe the suspects were responsible for crimes, they can issue summonses or arrest warrants against them. The Prosecutor said he had initially requested summonses because he thought they might be sufficient to prompt the men to appear in Court. Behind this deadpan statement lies one of the most problematic aspects of the Court’s investigation in Darfur: how those indicted are going to be brought to trial. The Court has no police force that could arrest people in Sudan and it is was striking that the United Nations Security Council resolution passed last year that authorized a possible UN peacekeeping mission to Sudan did not include the arrest of war crimes suspects in its mandate. Nevertheless it is possible that a future regime in Khartoum could ultimately decide to transfer suspects to the Court, as happened with Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Because the International Criminal Court can only launch prosecutions when the defendants’ country of origin is unable or unwilling to try them, the Prosecutor must convince the Court’s judges that Sudan will not properly investigate these suspects for war crimes in Darfur. Sudan's justice minister, Mohammed Ali al-Mardi, said after the Prosecutor’s announcement that his government was "not concerned with, nor do we accept, what the ICC prosecutor has opted for.” Al-Mardi also said that Ali Kushayb had been in detention in Khartoum since November. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo’s emphasis on the fact that he was paying particular attention to current crimes appears designed to reinforce the deterrent potential of the International Criminal Court. Even if the suspects are not immediately brought to trial, he seemed to be suggesting, the very fact of Court scrutiny may make some people refrain from crimes they would otherwise commit. This idea may be the Prosecutor’s way of combating the criticism heard from some quarters that his investigation risks prolonging the conflict in Darfur, by reducing the incentive for war crimes suspects who might face trial to agree to a peace settlement. In fact, it is hard to see the force of this criticism in any case, since there is little reason to think that a peace settlement, and even the presence of UN peacekeeping troops serving alongside those from the African Union, would in itself increase the risk for suspects of being handed over for trial.Related chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know: Related Links: ICC Prosecutor Presents Evidence on Darfur Crimes ICC Press Release February 27, 2002 By Angelina Jolie The Washington Post,February 28, 2007 International Crisis Group campaign page |
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