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Sudan man imprisoned for aiding ICC war crimes probe

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Sudan's Khartoum North Court on Wednesday sentenced a Sudanese man to 17 years in prison on charges of spying, criminal conspiracy and passing on confidential military documents after he attempted to share information with the International Criminal Court (ICC) relating to the investigation of a Darfur war crimes suspect. Mohamed Alsary Ibrahim was accused of trying to get close to Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs, in order to obtain information for Sudanese-American contacts who would then give the information to the ICC. Haroun is accused of committing war crimes against the civilian population in Darfur. Earlier in January, Sudanese authorities detained prominent political opposition figure and Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi in response to al-Turabi's calls for President Omar al-Bashir to turn himself over to the ICC. In August, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Sudan is merely going through the motions with its planned probe into Darfur human rights violations. He said that Sudan does not have the political will to bring human rights offenders to justice, noting that an earlier Sudanese investigation into genocide claims was led by Haroun himself. The ICC issued a warrant for Haroun's arrest last year, but Sudan has refused to turn him over. In a controversial move in July, Moreno-Ocampo applied for an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for atrocities committed in the country's Darfur region.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 28, 2009 (boomark / email).