June 8, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government today announced that it rejected a proposal by the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa for changes to the criminal law.
The foreign ministry spokesperson Ali Al-Sadiq told UN sponsored Miraya FM radio that Moussa has requested incorporation of provisions from the Rome Statute in Sudanese laws.
However, Al-Sadiq did not detail when the request was made and what changes were proposed.
Last month Sudan adopted a new criminal law that added war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide into its penal code.
The changes were made in wake of the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir initiated last year.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir last March on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Darfur conflict.
Bashir also faces the possibility of genocide charges which the ICC judges scrapped by a majority saying evidence does not meet the threshold.
The ICC prosecutor said he expects an appeal on adding the charges to be granted in a few weeks
The Arab league designed a roadmap to Khartoum to resolve the standoff that included conducting national judicial proceedings and changes to criminal law.
Khartoum expressed reservations on some parts of the proposal particularly establishment of hybrid courts with African and Arab judges.
Al-Sadiq said that Sudanese laws criminalizes what is taking place in Darfur adding that the laws do not need an amendment by including the Rome Statute which the Sudanese Government is not a signatory to.
(ST)
حركة العدل و المساواة السودانية
موقع متخصص بنقل آخر الأخبار و البيانات و القرارات لحركة العدل و المساواة السودانية