The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court unanimously decided on November 1, 2021, to reject Mr Ali Abd-Al-Rahman’s (Ali Kushayb) appeal against the Pre-Trial Chamber II decision of May 17, 2021 on the Defense’s jurisdictional challenge (exception d’incompétence).

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Judge Piotr Hofmaski, who presided over the appeal, read a summary of the judgement in an open hearing is accompanied by Judges Luz del Carmen Ibáez Carranza, Perrin de Brichambaut, Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Gocha Lordkipanidze.

The Appeals Chamber noted, among other things, that it found no error in the Pre-Trial Chamber’s reasons defining a “situation” before the Court as defined in terms of chronological, territorial, and in some cases personal limits in dismissing the Defense’s four grounds of appeal. It also ruled that the UN’s failure to fund the Court’s work as a result of a Security Council referral does not invalidate UNSC Resolution 1593, which referred the matter to the ICC. The Appeals Chamber concludes that the Defence has not proven how the alleged failure of the Pre-Trial Chamber to take into account the lack of Security Council logistical and security support to the Court in Sudan relates to the Court’s jurisdiction.

Finally, the Appeals Chamber determined that the referral of the Situation in Darfur, Sudan occurred in the wake of egregious abuses of human rights and humanitarian law that were criminalised under international law at the time, using the principle of legality, nullum crimen sine lege. The Appeals Chamber further ruled that when the Statute was established, the offences under it were intended to be broadly indicative of the status of customary international law. This strongly supports the possibility of being prosecuted for such offences even if they occur in a state that is not a party to the Statute.

For a background on Mr. Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, check out the Trial of Abd-Al-Rahman to open on April 5, 2022.

For more information on the above case, click here

Source: https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1624#