By Sitawa Wafula Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta held a ceremony last weekend to celebrate the International Criminal Court (ICC) abandoning its case against his deputy William Ruto (and journalist Joshua Arap Sang) for orchestrating the violence after their disputed election of 2007. The prosecutor dropped similar charges against Kenyatta himself two years ago, alleging that […]
ICC
Posted inNews/Politics
Al-Bashir ruling: Will SA do the right thing?
By Angela Mudukuti There have been many significant developments in the world of international criminal justice recently. Last week the International Criminal Court confirmed charges against Ugandan Dominic Ongwen, recorded a guilty plea from Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi and convicted the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. The International […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, Media, News/Politics
Do we have a duty to arrest Omar al-Bashir and hand him to the ICC?
By Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh These will be some of the deliberations at the Supreme Court of Appeal hearing tomorrow in the state’s appeal of the June 2015 high court order to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Will this court arrive at a different conclusion in respect of the arrest of al-Bashir? The state certainly hopes so. […]
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The state of play in the al-Bashir saga
By Angela Mudukuti On September 16, the North Gauteng High Court denied the South African government leave to appeal in the case pertaining to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. After a United Nations (UN) Security Council referral of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The al-Bashir saga: Questions about the bottom line on SA’s sovereignty
By Jan Hofmeyr One of the more revealing aspects of this week’s fracas involving Omar al-Bashir’s entry and exit from the African Union Summit in Sandton, is the deep insecurity our government has displayed in asserting its own sovereignty. Faced with a choice between adherence to our constitution, abiding to an international convention to which […]
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Con Air: African Escape
We open on SA President Jacob Zuma seeing off Sudan President Omar al-Bashir at Air Force Base Waterkloof. They kiss, but in a friendly way. Al Bashir lifts his robe, boards a plane and takes off. Murder accused Christopher Panayiotou and Zwelethu Mthethwa run onto the tarmac. PANAYIOTOU: What about us? ZUMA: No, not you. […]
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Simone Gbagbo: International justice v national justice
By Angela Mudukuti Is justice for egregious international crimes best served at the national domestic level or at the International Criminal Court (ICC)? The March 9 2015 domestic conviction and sentencing of Ivory Coast’s former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, has raised this and other important questions. Wanted by the ICC for her role in the […]
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The ICC is not Africa’s enemy
On New Year’s Eve in 1989 in Monrovia, Liberia, 17-year old Leymah Gbowee was finishing high school and looking forward to starting university to study to become a doctor. Like many middle class Liberians at the time she did not think that the coup by Charles Taylor on 24 December 1989 from the outskirts of […]
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Time to rethink justice in Africa
I recently attended a public lecture by acclaimed author, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, titled The Language of Justice in Africa. The lecture was on how the English language has assumed its powerful status in Anglophone Africa and how the justice systems in these countries, premised on English codes, may actually be miscarrying justice by virtue of […]
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One man, two wars, one guilty verdict
by Robtel Neajai Pailey Much has changed since I covered the first day of Charles Taylor’s trial for Pambazuka News on June 4 2007. That day, he failed to show up to court, calling the case against him a “farce.” Last week, he was in full view, stoic, resolute and somber. As I sat in […]
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South Africa, the Rome Statute, Zimbabwe and torture
By Clare Ballard “Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion.” – Wendell Phillips So accustomed have we become to reports of atrocities in war-ravaged, post colonial Africa that I believe we’d be forgiven for associating the term ‘impunity’ with the perpetrators of these crimes, even though the nature of […]
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The brigade for boiling and burning blacks
Just north of here, the tree of liberty is being liberally watered — not with the blood of patriots, but with the blood of blacks. And also unlike Jefferson’s dictum, it isn’t just occasionally, but has been going on for months. The vigilantes have even given themselves a name “The Brigade for Purging Slaves and […]