Held in custody by the Sudanese government since November 2007; accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity; arrest warrant issued by the ICC on 2 May 2007; Interpol Red Notice issued on 19 September 2007; released from custody due to lack of evidence on 1 October 2007
On 27 February 2007, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) communicated the names of the first two people accused of crimes in Darfur: Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Mohammed Harun (see "related cases").
According to the Prosecutor, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two men comitted war crimes and crimes against humanity, notably murder, rape and torture, between August 2003 and March 2004.
On 2 May 2007 the ICC judges issued their first arrest warrants against Kushayb and Harun (see "related cases").
On 19 September 2007 Interpol issued a Red Notice against Harun and Kushayb. While a red notice does not constitute an international arrest warrant, it allows the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition.
On 1 October 2007 the Sudanese government disclosed that Kushayb, who was believed to have been held in custody since November for what the government described as “suspicion of violating Sudanese laws” and for criminal acts in Darfur, was released from detention.
Sudan's foreign minister declared that Kushayb was released due to lack of evidence against him and reiterated that Sudan is not party to the ICC and as such has no obligation to cooperate with it.
