Government to appeal Al-Bashir ruling

Government says it believes the Constitutional Court could arrive at a different conclusion.

Last month, government failed in its bid to have the North Gauteng High Court ruling overturned. 

The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled Al-Bashir should have been arrested when he was in South Africa.

The Sudanese president was in the country to attend the African Union Summit in June last year.

Justice ministry spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga says: "Government believes the legal issues left unresolved - especially the interpretation of the customary international law in so far as the immunity to a sitting foreign head of state is concerned - can be pronounced by the Constitutional Court."

Respondents have been given ten court days to reply to the application after which the matter may be set down for argument. 

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur.