Sudan/Darfur

Seventeen-year jail sentence for helping international court

Article published on the 2009-01-28 Latest update 2009-01-28 16:14 TU

Sudanese children wearing the national colours demonstrate against the ICC
(Photo: Reuters)

A court in Sudan has sentenced a man to 17 years in prison for trying to help the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecute a minister accused of war crimes in Darfur. Mohamed el-Sari, who escaped the death sentence, was the first person to be convicted for collaborating with the court, which Sudan refuses to recognise.

Sari was arrested in June and accused of trying to bribe police to give him documents detailing the number of people in special police camps, their names, weapons and training and a photograph of current Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun visiting them.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Haroun last year on 51 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

Haroun denies the charges, which include accusations of responsibility for rape and murder of civilians while he served as Interior Minister.

In July, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for President Omar el-Beshir on ten counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

UN officials estimate that up to 30,000 people have died due to the conflict in the western Sudanese region and that 2.7 million have been forced out of their homes. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.