Government to take al-Bashir case to Constitutional Court

Government has asked the Constitutional Court for permission to appeal against the ruling that the government acted contrary to the constitution when it failed to detain Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in the country last year.

The department of justice and correctional services said in a statement on Friday that it has filed for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court against the judgment delivered by Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last month.

“After scrutinizing the SCA judgment and seeking legal opinion‚ government believes that the interpretation of legislation relating to immunity granted to a foreign sitting head of State needs pronouncement by the Constitutional Court as the apex court in the land and final arbiter on constitutional matters‚” justice department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said in the statement.

Mhaga said the department believes the court “can properly pronounce” on the “legal uncertainties that have not been fully resolved by the SCA both in terms of customary international law and domestic law“.