Judges dismiss S. African government's application over al-Bashir saga

All three judges at the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday dismissed the government's application for leave to appeal against its ruling ordering the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

The judges ruled that al-Bashir did not enjoy immunity from arrest or from prosecution under customary international law as a serving head of state.

The ruling said South Africa had a duty to arrest al-Bashir when he was attending the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg in mid june this year.

The judges said the government acted "unlawfully and unconstitutionally" to let al-Bashir leave the country despite an order by the High Court in Pretoria, preventing al-Bashir from leaving the country.

The court issued the order while al-Bashir was in the country to attend the AU Summit following an warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest him for alleged crimes against humanity.

The South African government has defended its inaction that let al-Bashir leave the country and avoid arrest, saying it could not arrest al-Bashir as he was in South Africa attending an AU summit as a guest of the AU.

The summit venue was an AU area where al-Bashir was granted immunity as agreed upon, the government says.

The AU in 2013 decided that no sitting head of state in Africa should be sent to the ICC.

In their Wednesday's ruling, the judges found that the government's appeal would have no practical effect as the issue became moot once al-Bashir had left the country.

"The facts before us are clear that there is no longer any live controversy between the parties... The appeal will therefore have no practical effect between the parties.

"We do not hold the opinion that the appeal has reasonable prospects of success at all," the judges said in a statement.

Mtunzi Mhaga, spokesperson of the Department of Justice and Correctional Service, said they were disappointed with the ruling and would consider a petition to the Supreme Court. Endit