[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's international brief, a British official has revealed that the UN Security Council [official website] will be presented with a resolution in the next two weeks that will seek to impose mandatory sanctions against up to ten government officials in Sudan [government website] for their involvement in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur [JURIST news archive]. Security Council members have so far deadlocked [JURIST report] on what sanctions to impose, but if the resolution is approved, the sanctions will include the denial of the right to travel outside of Sudan, the freezing of personal financial assets, and possibly even an order for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to prepare individual international arrest warrants for those named. The names to be included on the list will not be released until the resolution is made public, but a draft list leaked last week [JURIST report] included Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Sudan has continually rejected [JURIST report] the need for ICC involvement and has repeatedly stressed that its own war crimes tribunal [JURIST report] is sufficient to handle the needed prosecutions. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian has more.
In other international legal news …
- Two Kenyan journalists were detained on Tuesday for publishing a story [Standard report] over the weekend concerning the alleged meeting of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [BBC profile] with Mwingi North Member of Parliament Kalonzo Musyoka over two weeks ago. The two journalists, members of the Standard media group, have not been charged but were informed that the criminal investigations department of the local police had been ordered to detain the men and await instructions "from above" concerning their status. The meeting allegedly involved Kibaki offering a government position to Musyoka in exchange for his defection from the opposition ODM party to Kibaki's own political party. Lawyers for the journalists have already filed legal challenges to the detention. The East African Standard has local coverage.
In related news, the Nairobi High Court has issued a temporary stay against the Standard newspaper, preventing them from publishing any stories that attempt to connect prominent Nairobi businessman Jimmy Wanjigji to the Anglo Leasing scandal [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The stay will remain in effect until the court hears a defamation case on March 10 filed by Wanjigji against the Standard. Wanjigji claims that a previous story by the newspaper caused him "substantial loss and prejudice of reputation." JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. KBC has local coverage.