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16 UCLA J. Int'l L. Foreign Aff. 279 (2011)
Personal Immunity and President Omar Al Bashir: An Analysis under Customary International Law and Security Council Resolution 1593

handle is hein.journals/jilfa16 and id is 291 raw text is: PERSONAL IMMUNITY AND PRESIDENT
OMAR AL BASHIR: AN ANALYSIS
UNDER CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL
LAW AND SECURITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION 1593
Dan Terzian *
ABSTRACT
When the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for
Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, the court only cursorily reasoned that
Al Bashir did not possess personal immunity before the court. Though the
court's analysis was lacking, this Comment argues that the court can still
arrest and prosecute Al Bashir because he does not possess personal
immunity due to reasons not analyzed by the court. This argument rests on
the theory that the Security Council removed Al Bashir's personal immunity,
not on the customary international law-based theory advanced by the court.
This Comment rejects the theory that customary international law
removes heads of state's personal immunities because this practice lacks
sufficient acceptance.  And unless the Security Council supersedes
customary international law, all current heads of state possess inviolate
personal immunities that prohibit international tribunals from indicting,
arresting, or prosecuting them.
This Comment then argues that the Security Council superseded
customary international law by referring the Darfur conflict to the
International Criminal Court, thus removing Al Bashir's personal immunity.
* C.V. Starr Lecturer, Peking University School of Transnational Law; J.D., UCLA School of
Law. To Dad, you are-and always have been and will be-my measure. Oh, and Mom,
you're pretty okay too.

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