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WORLD NEWS Thursday 13 February 2020

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a joint
press conference with President of Senegal Macky Sall at the
Presidential Palace in Dakar, Senegal on Wednesday, Feb. 12,
2020.
Associated Press

Canadian PM Trudeau

raises gay rights with In this July 9, 2018 file photo, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir attends a ceremony for Turkey's
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey.
Associated Press
Senegal leader Rights group: Leader says Sudan

By BABACAR DIONE tion where homosexuality
is criminalized and punish- to cooperate fully with ICC
Associated Press
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — able by up to five years in
Canadian Prime Minister prison. Prosecution are rare
Justin Trudeau raised Sen- but discrimination in the By SAMY MAGDY Bashir by name, accord- cide, five counts of crimes
Associated Press
egal's criminalization of ho- country's traditional com- ing to the HRW statement. against humanity and two
mosexuality during his visit munities runs deep. The CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's His comments came dur- counts of war crimes for
to the West African nation bodies of gay men have leader said Wednesday ing a meeting with Ken- his alleged role in leading
on Wednesday, but Sen- even been dug out of Mus- the government will "fully" neth Roth, HRW's execu- the deadly crackdown on
egal's leader told journalists lim cemeteries after their cooperate with the Inter- tive director, and Mausi a rebel insurgency in Dar-
afterward that "we're com- families had laid them to national Criminal Court's Segun, the group's Africa fur. The indictments were
fortable with our laws." rest there. The Senegalese efforts to prosecute those director Wednesday in Su- issued in 2009 and 2010,
The exchange between president said his country wanted for war crimes dan's capital, Khartoum. marking the first time the
Trudeau and Senegalese respected human rights and genocide in connec- Prime Minister Abdalla global court had charged
President Macky Sall high- but he emphasized that no tion with the Darfur con- Hamdok also confirmed a suspect with genocide.
lighted the impasse the changes on laws regarding flict, according to an inter- the government's commit- "Victims and their families
United States, Canada and homosexuality would be national rights group. ment to cooperate with have waited more than 15
other Western nations have forthcoming. Transitional authorities an- the ICC, HRW said. years for justice for wide-
had in persuading Senegal "We cannot ask Senegal to nounced Tuesday they Mohammed Hassan al- spread atrocities commit-
and most African countries legalize homosexuality and agreed to hand over for- Taishi, a member of the ted in Darfur," said Roth.
not to jail gays and lesbi- organize tomorrow's Gay mer autocrat president Sovereign Council and a "Now they may finally see
ans. Trudeau told journal- Pride," he said. "It is not pos- Omar al-Bashir to The government negotiator, former president al-Bashir
ists he was "a great defend- sible. Our society does not Hague-based court along said Tuesday the transi- and the other ICC sus-
er of human rights" and so accept it." with other former officials tional authorities agreed pects in court."
had to raise the issue. "It is our way of living and wanted by the ICC. with rebel groups in Darfur The ICC has indicted two
"We've talked about it, and being. It has nothing to "We agreed no one is to hand over those want- other senior figures in al-
we know that Senegal is a do with homophobia," he above the law, and that ed by the ICC to face jus- Bashir's regime: Abdel-
leader in terms of democ- added. Trudeau spent people will be brought tice before the tribunal. Rahim Muhammad Hus-
racy and in terms of val- Wednesday meeting with to justice, be it in Sudan New York-based Human sein, interior and defense
ues. But we all have work Senegal's president and or outside Sudan with the Rights Watch said in a minister during much of
to do. In any case, we've visiting Goree Island, a site help of the ICC," Gen. Ab- statement that Sudan's the conflict, and Ahmed
had good discussions with often frequented by visiting del Fattah Burhan, head announcement could Haroun, a senior security
Macky Sall," Trudeau said Western leaders because of the country's transitional mean that al-Bashir "will fi- chief at the time and later
at a new conference in the of its historical significance Sovereign Council, was nally face justice for grave the leader of al-Bashir's rul-
capital of Dakar. as a place where African quoted as saying by Hu- international crimes in ing party. Both have been
Senegal is a moderate, slaves were forced to de- man Rights Watch. Darfur." Al-Bashir, 76, fac- under arrest in Khartoum
predominantly Muslim na- part for the New World. q Burhan didn't mention al- es three counts of geno- since al-Bashir's fall. q