Image: A Sudanese Darfur survivor | Credit | NBC

Amnesty International is urging the new Sudanese leadership to hand over their former president Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court.

Al-Bashir, who was ousted last week and later detained at Kobar prison by the army after intensified protests calling on him to step down, is wanted by the ICC which indicted him in 2008. The ICC a year later issued arrest warrant for al-Bashir.

He stands accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the Darfur region.

“An ICC trial is not only vital for the victims of the atrocious crimes that led to his indictment but must constitute a first step in ensuring justice and accountability in the country,” said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said in a statement.

However, the campaign group said the authorities in Sudan must ensure that Al-Bashir, along with all other people arrested and detained since the military coup, are protected from torture and other ill-treatment that have been typical of imprisonment in Sudan.