Bring Omar al-Bashir to Justice

SARA BENNETT
Amnesty International, USA
5 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10001
(212) 633-4160
sbennett@aiusa.org

RE: Bring Omar al-Bashir to Justice

Dear Sara Bennett:

It is time to end the atrocities in Darfur and bring the criminal perpetrators to justice. Not even sovereign governments are above world opinion and global standards on humanity. The International Criminal Court (ICC) took necessary action in de-legitimizing the rouge regime in Sudan.

The Obama administration should be made aware that international enforcement of the ICC indictment requires all the nations of the world, including China. The regime could be consider hostile and extreme, in the extent of its ruthless self-perpetuation.

Here is my report.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin, International Human Rights Activist


Omar al-Bashir & Janjaweed Charged with War Crime in Darfur

THE HAGUE, Netherlands –

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested.
Al-Bashir's government denounced the warrant as part of a Western conspiracy aimed at destabilizing the vast oil-rich nation south of Egypt.

African and Arab nations fear the warrant will destabilize the whole region, bring even more conflict in Darfur and threaten the fragile peace deal that ended decades of civil war between northern and southern Sudan. China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, supports the African and Arab positions.

"Every country in the world is on notice that there is a serious risk of genocide occurring in Darfur. Under the [United Nations] Genocide Treaty, states are obligated to take every conceivable action they can to prevent genocide," says Betsy Apple, who specializes in crimes against humanity for the New York-based group Human Rights First.

Background Notes:

Oil companies like China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Chemical and Petroleum Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) go unnoticed in its commercial dealing with the government of Sudan.

China buys Sudan’s oil from Gen. Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, and is held in power only by the weapons he buys from China to suppress dissidence and rebellion. The International Criminal Court gave notice of possible genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. The ICC took steps to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes. The court's chief prosecutor accused Mr. Bashir of masterminding a campaign of rape and murder targeting people in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region.

Murder, rape, and pillage are being systematically carried out by Janjaweed militia, which has left over 300,000 Durfurians dead and 2,000,000 dislocated and homeless. A recent BBC report states that in a recent Janjaweed attack upon a convoy left six people dead and 28 wounded. So, we know that the atrocities continue.

The Christian Science Monitor makes the argument that Omar al-Bashir is actually stealing the oil from the people of Sudan, like a thug dictator who plunders his country’s treasury, and that China’s willful complicity is that of knowingly buying stolen and plundered goods. The Sudanese president has since defied the Big Eight and bullied the African Union into silence.


"He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," court spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said. If al-Bashir is brought to trial and prosecuted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.


The Court had previously issued two arrest warrants against Sudanese Minister Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb, which remain outstanding. The Sudanese authorities not only failed to arrest these two men, but have also openly protected them.

Today’s decision follows the request submitted by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo on 14 July 2008. The Sudanese government has been defying the ICC at every step of the way, including by fuelling an “anti-ICC” campaign within the African Union and the League of Arab States, following the Prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir. Its efforts to obtain a deferral of investigations and prosecutions by the Security Council, in accordance with Article 16 of the ICC Statute, have nonetheless been fruitless to-date.

On 21 November 2008, the ICC Prosecutor requested the issuance of arrest warrants against the rebel leaders who allegedly planned and ordered the 29 September 2007 attack against members of the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMIS) in northern Darfur, Sudan. The judges have not yet decided on this application.


Reference: The Darfur Files at http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/search?q=Darfur

From: Roots of Humanity’s AM I NOT HUMAN CAMPAIGN

[Excerpt from http://rootsofhumanity.blogspot.com/search?q=Darfur]

Bush, who hands the reins to successor Barack Obama on January 20, will also talk — in person and by videoconference — with the bloggers “to discuss their use of blogs to push for democratic change and greater freedom,” said Carroll.

Those from Egypt and Venezuela will join in by teleconference, while those from Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran and Myanmar will be in the Roosevelt Room in person, said the spokesman.

The bloggers from China, Cuba, Iran and Myanmar now live in the United States, he said.

Does anyone know who the US-based bloggers are?