Two interesting pieces in today’s Asharq Alawsat on what the future might hold for Sudan’s indicted president. Both suggest that he shouldn’t rely on promises from Iran or Hamas. Most particularly, he shouldn’t rely on getting the masses stirred up over some claim that he represents Islam in the face of outside pressures.
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed:
Pursuit, detention, and trial are difficult words for anybody let alone a head of state who has ruled with an iron fist since staging a coup against democracy in the country twenty years ago.
It was not the first time that a leader has been summoned to court and will most certainly not be the last; Yugoslavia’s tyrant Slobodan Milosevic, who could not be helped by his relatives and fellow Russians, and ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor, who is currently imprisoned, are examples of leaders who have been tried.
President Omar al Bashir seems to be the only one who failed to understand from the outset how serious an issue Darfur was as the news agencies hastened to transmit reports about it. It seems that he was the only one who failed to believe that there is a court and continued to deny and mock until a resolution was declared for his arrest.
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Tariq Alhomayed:
What Has Islam Got to Do with Al-Bashir?
Once again we find ourselves facing the same situation in every Arab crisis and yet here we have Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, in Khartoum, saying that the decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al Bashir is an “insult to Muslims”! And the irony as Hamas warned Arab leaders not to merely stand by and watch, reminding them that they have a role [to play] after what happened to Saddam Hussein.
From the beginning it must be said that this is a woe to rational-minded people in this part of the world, as there is no rationale or wisdom or understanding of the consequences, nor is value given to peaceful humans, whether rulers or the ruled; the proof of this lies in the streams of blood in our region.
When Ali Larijani says that the targeting of the Sudanese President is an insult to Muslims, it raises the following questions: aren’t the people, or let us say victims, of Darfur also Muslims? Isn’t it insulting to “Islamic” Iran to approve of this kind of tyranny against the people of Darfur?
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March:09:2009 - 09:55
I’m sure Ali Larijani probably doesn’t see a huge problem in Darfur. It’s an internal conflict and wouldn’t be a big deal except for those meddlesome Westerners. Saudi Arabia is no less willing to look past this, too, having awarded the Kingdom’s highest humanitarian honor to Bishir in 2006. If Bishir were ever ousted from his own country, it would be interesting to see if Saudi would host him like it hosted fellow, noble, God-fearing Muslim Idi Amin, who spent the rest of his days hanging out in luxury with his kids by the pool of one of Jeddah finer hotels. It’s funny how the most murderous people end up having the nicest retirement plans.
March:09:2009 - 11:24
I suspect asylum would be offered… the Saudi gov’t has a way of doing that. The Florida Hotel, at which Idi Amin stayed, wasn’t all that luxurious, IMO. It was actually pretty tawdry. Whether that was a matter of cause and effect is left to the reader to determine….