August 19
SINGAPORE:
Notes from inside death row in Singapore
I was sentenced to death on May 2, 2017. The judge said that even though my
involvement was just as a courier, he has no any other choice because the DPP
of Singapore did not want to issue the certificate of co-operation.
I saw my family break down with my very own eyes, they couldn’t believe what
was happening.
At that moment, the lowest point of my life, I mustered the strength to stay
strong for my family and consoled them by saying, “I can still appeal, there is
hope.”
It hurts to see our loved one in this sort of situation. Words can’t describe
the burden which I had placed in their hearts.
All my family ever did was love me for who I am and be there for me and all I
have given them is burden and pain that they will carry with them for the rest
of their lives. This realisation hurts more than the sentence could ever
itself.
I was transferred from B2 TO A1 SHU (Special Housing Unit), the death row. Once
I arrived here, the first thing the officer did was to shave my head bald and
give me a white T-shirt and shorts to wear.
They then led me to cell No. 26 and told me that I have to remain in this cell
for 2 more months at least, before they can transfer me to different cell which
has a TV.
I was given soap, brush, a small white towel, toothpaste and a bucket. I
stumbled into the cell and my mind was just blank, I hadn’t recovered yet at
that point. Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t collect my thoughts.
The cell was quite creepy and I felt unsettled, to say the very least. It
wasn’t even 5 minutes yet but I already felt alone. I guess that is the point
of this place.
It’s a very a dark and gloomy place and you can almost see all the sadness,
disappointment and loneliness the place bears. It feels like it could even
devour you alive.
For someone who’s not on this side of the bar, like the officers or
counsellors, they probably don’t really understand how we death row inmates
feel; some of them think they do understand or that they know but I beg to
differ.
In here you are only for yourself and only God is your solace if you are a
religious person. If you’re not a believer, it’s going to take an immense
amount of mental strength and fortitude to find the light of hope in this
darkness.
The next day, I was informed that the state will provide a lawyer to do my
appeal if I can’t afford one, and if the appeal doesn’t go in my favour, then I
can send a petition of clemency and if that too doesn’t go well, then I would
be hanged, an estimate of 14-15 months.
Great! Could any news make me feel "better" than this one? I don’t think so. It
makes me feel so much "better" until I can’t sleep at night.
To think what lies ahead for us (death row inmates) is not something
encouraging to do, for you will be torn apart in the war between hope and
reality.
For the first 2 weeks, I was locked down in cell No. 26 with no access to the
one-hour yard time. This meant that I stayed inside the cell 24/7, for 2 weeks,
with the lights turned on the whole time 24/7.
It was very hot and I couldn’t sleep, if you use the floor mat given, you would
feel hotter, so I just slept on the floor with the lights on.
Most of the time I slept not because I wanted to, but because my eyes were too
tired to be open any longer. I would wake every 1 or 2 hours after I had fallen
asleep.
I don’t know why they would give this form of psychological torture to someone
who is already sentenced to death, who is already suffering mentally and
emotionally.
I don’t know what joy they take in watching their fellow human being been
treated in such a way. Reminds me of the stories I’ve read of the Nazi
concentration camps, although the prisoners there would have suffered far, far
worse than I have.
After 1 week, I got access to newspapers, but still no yard time. Only after 2
weeks was I allowed to go to the yard.
I was allowed to keep books which were taken from the yard library. The food is
better than before and there are slices of bread available every evening that
you can take as much as you can eat.
The food menu is mostly chicken, egg, sardine, some vegetables, fish and
sometimes anchovies. The menu rotates every day.
The cell is consisted of a toilet and a big iron bar door with four iron rods
in between for the air to come in. The cell is just 6 or 7 normal footsteps in
length and in width.
Each cell has a CCTV that runs 24/7 at the top corner of the ceiling where the
toilet is. It is not something new, I was living my life for the past five
years like this. Doesn’t matter if you’re taking bath or a dump, there were
always people watching you.
Even in B2, as a remand, you would have to strip and get naked five days a week
whenever we entered the yard. There will be two officers at the yard’s gate
entrance to see your bare body and genitalia twice — in and out — and you will
feel humiliated.
Before they take your life itself, they will try to take everything else they
can from you –- your freedom, dignity, rights, dreams, hope, value, and
respect.
Everything, like a vacuum cleaner, is sucked away before your life is ended.
That why I mentioned earlier that the others who are not in our shoes, they
don’t know what it is like.
There are more things that I could describe here but this is a little summary
of pretty much most of it.
There isn’t a fan inside the cell, each cell has a fan fixed outside of it. The
wall colours are very dull, pale pastel yellow as though it has been purposely
chosen so that your brain would become dull too as you are going to see it
every day. Oh, and the floors are grey.
I (and all prisoners) was only provided with one floormat and two blankets
which look like they’ve been used in World War 2, and no pillows.
So one blanket becomes a makeshift pillow. One of the most advanced and safest
cities in the world, and they can’t even provide us inmates a pillow, most
mornings you wake up with a pain in your neck and every day the officers see us
as a pain in their ass.
After two weeks on death row I was told that the coming Friday someone was
going to be hanged. A guy who was also convicted on a drug case –- a
Singaporean — and that Thursday evening, he came to my cell to say his last
goodbye.
I didn’t know what to say to him. It was hard to imagine this healthy young man
was going to be hanged the next day.
Can you imagine seeing someone today, and knowing that tomorrow his/her life
will be taken away? This person would cease to exist anymore. I personally
didn’t know him but I still can’t imagine how hard it must be for him to go
through all this.
I will pray for him, at the very least that’s what I can only do, and pray for
his family too. After two months I was transferred to cell 6 which had a TV
inside the cell, apart from that, the cell was the same as the previous one.
Fast forward to April 2019, it’s been two years now for me on the death row. My
appeal was dismissed on February 9, 2018 as written in my previous article and
about all the time and things that I have learned here in death row, about
life, passion, freedom and the value of a human life.
I forgot to mention the last time that the prison also provides inmates on
death row a canteen list to order some food. It goes by levels.
Inmates who haven’t done with their appeal get to write canteen for S$12 (RM36)
a month, for those who appeal had been dismissed, they get S$40 a month and at
last for those who have already submitted their petition of clemency gets S$60
a month.
Before my appeal, I requested to be baptised in prison but I was informed that
only those whose appeal have been dismissed would be allowed to be baptised.
So I would have to wait till the outcome of my appeal. I pray to God, “Lord you
know when is the right time for everything, as such I leave this matter to
you.”
As my father is a church pastor, he used to say, “Come learn the course and
take the baptism.” He was baptising other church members every now and then but
I used to answer, “I will learn the course and take the baptism when I am
ready.” This is because I didn’t want to live a double life and take baptism
for the sake of just being a Christian.
Miraculously, the only upside to my current predicament is that my relationship
with my family and God is being healed and it has been getting stronger past
these five years.
Yes, there were times when I was down, but I got back up, only to fail and
stand back up again but all that now, I’ve realised, is a process which I have
to go through, to be a better person, to grow in faith and to seek God’s will
and purpose in my life.
After my appeal had been dismissed, I did fasting for 40 days in the name of
God and prayed. There’s a lot of struggle in that too, as you keep hoping
something good will happen — anything that may help to save my life but what I
keep getting was disappointments and setbacks.
Back in my mind, I knew time was flying fast, and once I send the petition of
clemency, my days are numbered without even me knowing when it will end.
"In my vision of the dark night, I have dreamed of joy departed but a warning
dream of life and light, hathleft me broken hearted." — Edgar Allan Poe.
The above line rings true when you really understand what goes on here. For
some inmates (perhaps all), every waking hour reminds us of nothing but pain
and regret, and that all these things that we are going through are real and I
can’t just write on only what is good and positive.
How can I be positive all the time, staying in death row and not even being
given a chance for redemption?
Up until April 2019, I have seen 22 people hanged, and in many ways it took a
toll on the rest of us inmates. People would change, as the executions would
carry on, until it’s their turn.
They would lose sleep, some heavily rely on medication, some become resentful,
reserved and taciturn, some even forget how to laugh, some would lose their
minds under pressure.
They just snap like that as they can’t take it any longer. They start to talk
to the wall, hear voices, have nightmares. Some even forget to clean themselves
for weeks, lose their appetites (maybe their will to even eat), their social
and communication skills fade away and some even refuse to see their own family
that came to visit.
Amidst all of this, I have to draw a line, find a balance between everything,
between hope and reality, in spirituality, in moral values, in good and the
bad, and in almost in everything.
I have to know where I am standing. If I have failed to find that balance, then
whatever I’ve been through or learned these past years would amount to nothing.
In the midst of all these struggles and troubles, I must not lose myself but
strive ever harder, to find myself.
(source: Pannir Selvam Pranthanam is a Malaysian on death row in
Singapore----malaymail.com)
MALAYSIA:
Life behind the walls for the criminally insane
Mental assessment of those charged with criminal offences can be done only at
four hospitals. They are Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta (HBUK) in Perak, Hospital
Permai (Johor), Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang (Sabah) and Hospital Sentosa
(Sarawak).
HBUK consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony said these were the
approved psychiatric hospitals under the Mental Health Act 2001 to admit and
detain individuals under Sections 342, 344 and 348 of the Criminal Procedure
Code (CPC).
“The charges can range from a simple case of urine testing positive for drugs,
stealing a motorbike, to serious offences, such as rape, sexual offences
against children, child abuse and crimes involving the death penalty,” he said
in an interview with the New Straits Times.
He said judges who suspected that an accused suffered from a mental disorder
would refer him to 1 of the 4 hospitals for mental assessment under Section 342
of the CPC.
“The hospital is given a period not exceeding one month (which can be extended
to two months) to observe, evaluate and send a report on the mental state of
the accused before he is allowed to plead or go on trial.
“The court wants to know whether the accused has a mental disorder. Whether he
is of sound mind or unsound mind at the time of the alleged offence and
following a period of assessment, whether he is fit to stand trial.
“These are three important questions that the court requires us to answer.”
Dr Anthony said out of the 420 cases referred by the courts to the hospital
last year, fewer than 15 were either found to be of unsound mind or unfit to
stand trial.
He said the threshold for legal insanity under Section 84 of the Penal Code was
high.
“Although the standard of proof for an insanity defence is on the balance of
probabilities, just by merely having a mental disorder per se may be
insufficient.
“It must be clearly shown to the court, with reasonable medical certainty that
the accused was rendered cognitively incapable of understanding the nature and
wrongfulness of his action as a result of his mental disorder."
He said when assessing the accused, the forensic psychiatrist had a duty to the
court to assist it in coming to a just decision.
“For forensic cases that come for mental assessment, the obligation to the
accused goes only as far as ensuring they receive an independent and unbiased
assessment. We have no obligation to any party, be it the prosecution or
defence. In this respect, the principle of forensic psychiatry differs from the
ethics of general psychiatry.
“The forensic psychiatrist has to balance competing duties to the accused and
society.”
An assessment of the accused under Section 342 of the CPC is done at the acute
forensic unit, a high-security facility in the hospital. The hospital,famously
referred to as Tanjung Rambutan Hospital, receives between 40 and 50 cases
monthly.
“Once they are sent to us by the police, the handcuffs are taken off because
this is a hospital, we do not cuff them. They are treated like ordinary
patients. Although most of them are perpetrators of serious crimes, being
arrested and interrogated by police, taken to court multiple times and living
in a prison can be traumatic.
“If we add to that, it would be difficult to get into their minds and for them
to tell us what transpired.”
Dr Anthony said without access to crime scene evidence, psychiatrists would
have to rely completely on the accused to recall and reconstruct the alleged
crime, step by step.
“We gather information from family members or other individuals who had
observed the patient’s behaviour prior to the offence, or if they were present
during the offence and at the time of the arrest, as well as policemen who made
the arrest.”
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings of the alleged crime and medical
reports of prior psychiatric admissions and treatments in other hospitals are
referred to.
“The patient’s mental state at the time of the crime is as important as the
period preceding the offence and immediately after. This constitutes the entire
picture of the mental state of the accused.
“Sometimes, when they come in, their mental state isn’t so stable, so it takes
time for us to build a rapport, engage and slowly get them to recall things, to
reconstruct the entire scene,” he said, adding that those who turned violent
and aggressive would be medicated to keep them calm.
REHABILITATION PROGRAMME
Once the trial is over and the court finds the accused not guilty by reason of
insanity, on most occasions, the court will order the accused to be kept in
safe custody at the hospital at the pleasure of the ruler of the state under
Section 348 of the CPC.
“They are no longer seen as the accused, but as patients. The aim of Section
348 is to treat and rehabilitate them with the goal of releasing them back into
society.”
He said there were currently 17 female patients and 108 male patients confined
to the long-stay forensic ward of the hospital under Section 348, with the
majority of them having been found not guilty by reason of insanity for murder.
Rehabilitation for female patients include a bakery, a spa, a hair salon,
making and selling ice-cream, selling kacang, ikan masin and ikan bilis.
For the male patients, they are enrolled in activities, such as planting
vegetables, sugar cane, gardening, car wash and electrical workshops. Some also
work in the hospital’s laundry and canteen. The work keeps patients occupied
and they progress from a simple job to a more complex one.
BOARD OF VISITORS
Relatives of patients confined under Section 348 can request their release
under Section 351 of the same Act by applying to the respective state
secretariat and copying the same letter to the hospital.
The hospital will then refer the case to its Board of Visitors, who will
deliberate on it.
Once they are satisfied that the patient can be safely released, the ruler may
in his discretion, order the patient to be delivered to a relative.
“Since last year, we have put 20 cases before the Board of Visitors for release
under Section 351. Out of that, nine successfully went back into society, while
some are awaiting their release order,” said Dr Anthony, adding that there were
instances where the board did not agree to release a patient and called for
more time in rehabilitation.
The planting of sugar cane is part of Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta forensic
ward’s rehabilitation activities for male patients. - NSTP/Abdullah Yusof
“It depends on the patient. If the patient’s symptoms are well controlled, his
illness improved and he has successfully taken part in rehabilitation
activities, and when there have been no episodes of violence or aggression
during the patient’s stay in the ward, then we have no problems in facilitating
his release.
“Once they have been rehabilitated, they should be released into society, with
the necessary safeguards in place.”
RELEASING PATIENTS BACK INTO SOCIETY
“When we release a patient, we would want to be sure that this person has a low
risk of re-offending. Risks can only be estimated to a certain extent. Let’s
say we are releasing a patient, we can predict risks up to only 6 months.
“Subsequent risk assessments will have to be done by the hospital that’s in
charge of his followup treatments. If he misses his medications, he can relapse
and re- offend.
“Therefore, we have to provide him with services on the outside. If the patient
is going back to Alor Star, for instance, we have to provide him with
psychiatric services there, especially with a community psychiatric team that
carries out regular home visits to ensure that he takes his medications.”
Dr Anthony said many patients had drug-related problems that would have
resulted in some of the offences and it was a difficult task keeping them away
from drugs.
In cases where there is no relative to take a patient home, the hospital will
release the patient under Section 350 of the CPC, upon recommendation of the
hospital director.
These patients are then readmitted to the hospital voluntarily under the Mental
Health Act 2001.
For this group of patients with no relatives, the aim of release under Section
350 is for further rehabilitation by allowing them to work outside the
hospital. Some of them are allowed to live independently in apartments on the
hospital grounds while seeking employment outside.
Who adapts better once released, men or women?
“That depends on the support given by the family. The first six months after
release from the hospital is crucial as they have to readjust to life outside
the hospital.
“During this period, I will schedule appointments to see them at the outpatient
clinic of Hospital Bahagia. Once I am comfortable and satisfied that, yes, this
patient is doing well, only then will I refer him to the nearest hospital where
he lives.
“We do not completely cut off ties with them and random checks are made with
their families to ensure that they are taken cared of,” he said.
CHALLENGES
Dr Anthony said space was a problem for rehabilitation programmes as they were
utilising old wards for their activities.
“Work is therapeutic. Some of these patients had good jobs before committing
their offences. If you don’t give them anything to do, they become bored and
boredom can trigger a lot of things.”
He said there were very few psychiatrists interested in the field of forensic
psychiatry.
“There are a lot of risks involved in dealing with criminals. The workload is
tremendous, compounded by the pressure of having to go to court. At present,
there are only three forensic psychiatrists in Malaysia and we are training
three more in the Health Ministry’s forensic psychiatry subspecialty training
programme.”
He said HBUK sometimes had problems tracing family members when a patient was
ready to be released back into society.
There were cases of family members being reluctant to take them home.
“Like for murder cases, they can be very reluctant. They don’t mind visiting
the patient here in the hospital, but they do not want to take them home.”
He said the oldest patient in the forensic ward was an 86-year-old.
“He came here in 1960 and he is still here under Section 348 of the CPC. He was
charged with voluntarily causing hurt,” he said, declining to reveal more about
the patient.
He said the youngest patient was a 21-year-old who was admitted last year after
being found not guilty by reason of insanity for voluntarily causing hurt.
(source: nst.com.my)
PHIIPPINES:
Locsin says death penalty revival could affect fate of Filipinos convicted
abroad
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday maintained that he is
not in favor of the revival of death penalty, saying it could weaken the
Philippines' appeal to countries where convicted Filipinos are facing such
punishment.
During the hearing of the Senate foreign affairs relation committee, Senator
Panfilo Lacson asked how Locsin would reconcile the fact that drug suspects are
killed in the country while the DFA is saving Filipinos convicted of drug
charges in other countries.
“Frankly, I used to wonder about that. That’s why I continue to support the
abolition of death penalty because I cannot see how, now that we abolished it,
if we restore it, how can we appeal if we feel that there is a possibility of
miscarriage of justice in a foreign country,” said Locsin.
“How can we appeal for mercy or a commutation of sentence? That’s a completely
unresolved issue as far as I’m concerned,” he added.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said it does not mean that Filipinos who violated
another country’s laws should not be punished.
Lacson said the rationale behind it is that the government treat them as
Filipinos 1st and convicts 2nd.
“That obligation is weakened when we restore death penalty,” Locsin said.
Bills seeking the reimposition of death penalty have been filed in Congress.
(source: gmanetwork.com)
IRAN:
UN: Iran Regime Hanged at Least 7 Child Offenders Last Year
Iran's regime executed at least seven child offenders last year, while another
90 minors are on death row, according to a new report to the United Nations
General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Iran.
The report by Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, "A/74/188", circulated to UN
Member States on August 16, stated: "In 2018, there were seven reported cases
of executions of child offenders. There are currently an estimated 90
individuals on death row who were all under the age of 18 at the time of their
alleged offences. Among the most recent cases, on 25 April 2019, 2 17-year-old
children, Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, were executed" in Adelabad prison
in Shiraz for an alleged crime that they reportedly were forced to confess to
under torture.
Mr. Rehman pointed out that the position of UN rapporteurs and the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on child offender executions
has been unequivocal. "They have stated that this practice is absolutely
prohibited and must end immediately."
The Special Rapporteur also raised concerns about allegations of "confessions
extracted by torture" and a "lack of due process or a fair trial."
The full report is available on the UN website: https://undocs.org/en/A/74/188
(source: ncr-iran.org)
********************
Executions in Iran among the world's highest
Iran saw increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and
continuing violations of the right to life, liberty and a fair trial in the
Islamic Republic, including 253 reported executions of adults and children in
2018, the UN expert on human rights said on Friday.
Javaid Rehman said in a report to the General Assembly circulated Friday that
while the number of executions was the lowest since 2007, "the number of
executions remains one of the highest in the world."
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The significant decline, he said, is attributed to enforcement of a 2017
amendment to Iran's anti-narcotics law that saw the number of executions for
drug-related offenses drop from 231 in 2017 to at least 24 in 2018.
Rehman expressed concern that Iran had more than 80 offenses punishable by the
death penalty, including adultery, homosexuality, drug possession, "waging war
against God, corruption on Earth, blasphemy and insult of the Prophet"
Muhammad.
He said many of the offenses are not considered serious crimes under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Among the 7 child offenders reported to have been executed in 2018 were 2
17-year-olds in April for alleged rape and robbery, Rehman said. "The 2 were
reportedly forced to confess under torture."
Rehman reiterated UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's statement that the
execution of child offenders "is absolutely prohibited and must end
immediately."
(source: Israel Hayom)
SUDAN:
Sudan's deposed ruler Omar al-Bashir faces trial over corruption----Deposed
former president is also wanted by the ICC for war crimes, genocide and crimes
against humanity in Darfur.
Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir is due to go on trial for corruption
allegations, which brought down his 30-year rule.
The deposed leader, whose trial begins on Monday, faces charges related to
"possessing foreign currency, corruption and receiving gifts illegally".
Bashir's trial comes against the backdrop of the country's struggle to form a
sovereign council, the first step after the landmark adoption of a transitional
constitution. On Saturday, protest leaders and the military signed a final
power-sharing deal, paving the way for a transition to a civilian-led
government.
Al-Bashir seized power in a military coup on June 30, 1989, and stayed in
office until April 11, 2019, when he was overthrown and arrested by the armed
forces.
Will Sudan return to civilian rule?
His downfall was brought about by thousands of ordinary Sudanese from all walks
of life who took to the streets for four months to demand an end to the
75-year-old's rule.
The demonstrations erupted over rising food prices before morphing into broader
demands for political change, the culmination of years of anger over
long-standing corruption and repression.
Prosecutors have also opened other criminal probes against al-Bashir, including
on charges of money laundering, financing "terrorism" and "ordering the killing
of protesters" - the latter is an offence that carries the death penalty in
Sudan.
Ahead of the trial, Amnesty International's Director for East Africa Joan
Nyanyuki said in a statement: "While this trial is a positive step towards
accountability for some of his alleged crimes, he remains wanted for heinous
crimes committed against the Sudanese people."
Over the course of his time in office, al-Bashir led Sudan through several
conflicts and became wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for
alleged atrocities in Darfur. He was also the last man to lead a united Sudan,
prior to South Sudan's independence in 2011.
Here's all you need to know about Sudan's toppled ruler.
Rise to power
Al-Bashir was born into a peasant family in 1944, in Hosh Wad Banaqa, northern
Sudan, which until independence in 1955 was part of the Kingdom of Egypt and
Sudan. After finishing high school in the capital, Khartoum, he enrolled in a
military academy in Egypt in 1960. In 1973, he was part of the Sudanese units
that were sent to Egypt to fight in the October Arab-Israeli war.
In 1975, he was appointed as the military attache in the United Arab Emirates.
Upon returning to Sudan, he was appointed garrison commander and, in 1981, he
became the head of an armoured parachute brigade.
In the mid-1980s, he had a central role in the armed forces' campaign in the
civil war in southern Sudan against the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army.
As a colonel in the Sudanese military, al-Bashir was well-positioned to lead a
bloodless military coup in 1989 against Sadiq al-Mahdi, the prime minister of a
democratically elected government.
Al-Bashir was subsequently appointed chairman of the Revolutionary Command
Centre for National Salvation (RCC), which was established as a "transitional"
government.
Having allied with Hassan al-Turabi, the speaker of the Sudanese parliament and
head of the National Islamic Front, al-Bashir dissolved parliament, banned
political parties and went on to introduce Islamic law.
The mainly animist and Christian southern Sudan rejected the introduction of
the new legal system, and the decades-long north-south civil war intensified.
Political conflict
In 1993, al-Bashir abolished the RCC and appointed himself president of Sudan,
but retained military rule.
Three years later, Sudan held presidential and parliamentary elections, and
al-Bashir, running completely unopposed for president, won with 75 percent of
the vote. He would eventually legalise the registration of political parties in
1999.
Later that year, al-Bashir removed al-Turabi from his post as parliament
speaker and had him imprisoned. Al-Turabi had grown increasingly close to
Muslim political groups unpopular in the West.
In 2000, al-Bashir was re-elected after winning 90 % of a popular vote in an
election described as a sham by the opposition.
A wanted man
Al-Bashir was the only serving head of state to be indicted for war crimes.
Although Bashir's government signed a peace deal in 2005 to end a years-long
conflict between the north and south, the leader and several senior ministers
in his cabinet have been criticised for what the United Nations has called
"ethnic cleansing" during another conflict that broke out in the western
province of Darfur.
The tribes of Darfur - home to several non-Arab tribes who rebelled against the
government in 2003 - accused al-Bashir's administration of siding with Arab
tribes in a decades-old fight over scarce resources among the province's
communities.
The UN estimates that between 200,000 and 400,000 people died in the conflict,
with a further 2.7 million displaced. But al-Bashir's government claimed that
the UN, influenced by Western powers, had exaggerated the numbers.
In June 2008, the ICC charged al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against
humanity in connection with the ongoing attacks against Darfur's non-Arab
ethnic groups. The ICC has since issued two arrest warrants against him.
Unless he is handed over to the ICC, it is unlikely that Bashir will be
prosecuted for the alleged war crimes, according to legal experts.
"We have urged the Sudan authorities to hand al-Bashir over to the ICC to
answer for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide," Ahmed Elzobeir,
Sudan researcher at Amnesty International told Al Jazeera.
"Al-Bashir must face justice not only for recent national crimes but also for
the historical crimes he committed under international law," he added.
The Sudanese legal system would not be able to prosecute al-Bashir for the
alleged crimes because they were committed before Sudan introduced war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity to the Criminal Act in 2009, according to
legal experts.
"His trial in Sudan would violate a basic legal principle, no one shall be
convicted for acts committed before the law entered into force," explained
Elzobeir.
Despite the arrest warrants, al-Bashir has visited several countries including
Syria, Ethiopia, Libya, Qatar, Egypt and South Africa.
In 2010, al-Bashir was re-elected with roughly 68 percent of the vote. The
opposition alleged fraud and election observers said the polls did not meet
international standards.
The following year, southern Sudanese citizens overwhelmingly backed splitting
from the north in a referendum, which led to the creation of the world's
youngest country.
The 2011 secession of South Sudan deprived Sudan of the majority of its oil
revenues and stoked spiralling inflation and widespread shortages.
As a result, opposition groups and ordinary citizens increasingly began
expressing their anger with the inability of al-Bashir's government to address
their grievances, improve economic conditions and introduce political reforms.
(source: aljazeera.com)
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