Sudan ex-foreign minister Mariam al-Mahdi calls for coup plotters to be tried by ICC

Sudan’s deposed foreign minister Mariam al-Mahdi on Friday called for the military leaders of the October coup to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

“Coups are crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” Mahdi said in a statement addressed to the UN Human Rights Council.

Mahdi referred to Article 8 of the ICC’s Rome Statute in making her argument for the criminalisation of the coup as a “war crime”, in a statement published on the Facebook page of the information ministry.

On October 25, Sudan’s top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolved the government as well as the ruling joint military-civilian Sovereign Council which had been heading Sudan’s transition towards full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

In a move widely condemned internationally, Burhan declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan’s civilian leadership, including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and members of his government.

Mahdi, one of the few members of the government not to have been arrested by the military, has been a vocal critic of the coup.

Her comments came as the UN Human Rights Council convened a special session in Geneva to discuss a draft resolution presented by Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States condemning the coup.

The resolution calls for “the immediate restoration” of the civilian-led government and increased rights monitoring after Burhan’s power grab.

The council did not release her statement that was only posted online by Sudan’s ministry of information, which has remained loyal to Hamdok’s government.

On Thursday, Burhan ordered the release of four cabinet ministers as the army said the formation of a new government was “imminent”.

But three key civilian leaders of the protest movement that toppled Bashir who had met with the UN’s Sudan envoy Volker Perthes were also arrested Thursday.

Perthes condemned their detentions in a Friday statement writing that it “nullifies the impact of the release” of the four ministers.

Sudan has since August 2019 been ruled by a joint civilian-military council as part of the now derailed transition to full civilian rule.

In a further escalation of political tensions, Sudan’s state television reported Friday that Burhan ordered the dissolution of all boards of directors of “state-run companies as well as agricultural and national projects”.