Court Blocks South Africa's Withdrawal From International Criminal Court

Enlarge this image toggle caption Mike Corder/AP Mike Corder/AP

A South African court has ruled that the country's bid to withdraw from the International Criminal Court is "unconstitutional and invalid," in a stark rebuke to the government of President Jacob Zuma. Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo in the North Gauteng High Court instructed the government to revoke its notice of withdrawal from the human rights tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands. South Africa announced its intention to leave the court after the government "refused to detain indicted war criminal Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir at an African Union summit in 2015, despite an ICC warrant for his arrest," NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton explained.
South Africa's North Gauteng High Court rules the government's decision last October to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was unconstitutional, and instructs the government to revoke its notice of withdrawal.