ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudanese defense minister

The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein as part of investigations into atrocities in Darfur.   

Hussein is the latest of several sitting government leaders in Sudan to be indicted by the court in The Hague.   

It is also seeking the arrest of Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of orchestrating genocide, as well as a former minister of state for the interior and a militia leader. All remain at large.   

The court said in a statement there were sufficient grounds to believe Hussein was responsible for 20 counts of crimes against humanity, including persecution and rape, and 21 counts of war crimes, including murder and attacks against civilian population.   

The United Nations has said as many as 300,000 people died in the Darfur conflict. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.   

The ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in December Hussein was wanted for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004.  

Reuters