ICC reports Jordan to UN Security Council over Sudan's Bashir visit

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has warned that it will refer Jordan to the U.N. Security Council for failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited Amman in March.

Bashir travelled to Jordan for the annual meeting of Arab leaders at the invitation of King Abdullah II of Jordan. Jordan is a signatory of the Rome Statute of the ICC and is therefore obliged to enforce an ICC warrant like the one issued against Bashir in 2009.

Bashir is wanted by the court for alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

But since the indictment in 2009, Bashir has blatantly defied the arrest warrant by travelling to countries that are signatories of the Rome Statute including Uganda, Rwanda and Egypt.

South Africa is the only country where Bashir was troubled as a local human rights group lodged an application in court challenging the country’s failure to arrest a ‘war criminal’ despite the ICC obligations.

He eventually left the country before the end of the African Union summit he was attending, disregarding a court order that would have seen his detained and handed over to the ICC.