Pretoria court grants interim order preventing Sudan’s Bashir from leaving SA

A decision is to be made later on Sunday.

The judge made the order after granting the State a three-hour period in which to prepare arguments in response to the South African Litigation Centre’s application that President Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority arrest Bashir on the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC issued a warrant of arrest against Bashir in 2009, for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Dafur, Sudan conflict. The conflict claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people and left more than two million more displaced.

The Litigation Centre made the urgent application following the ICC’s order that Bashir be arrested immediately once he landed in South Africa to attend the AU summit currently being held in Johannesburg, for which he reportedly arrived on Saturday.

As a signatory of the Rome treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Bashir, but the AU has previously refused to heed the ICC call, accusing it of targeting only African leaders.

Arguments for and against the urgent application were expected to be made before Judge Fabricius at 3pm on Sunday.

ANA