An angry friend told me: “I noticed that the media has started sympathizing with accusations against Omar Al-Beshir. I was shocked to find some columnists repeating the accusations leveled against the Sudanese President by the International Criminal Court.
“The press has a duty to deliver all the information to the readers. So if a report includes accusations, then it’s the duty of the press not to filter it regardless of its own stance vis-à-vis these accusations, I said.
“But some writers have adopted these accusations and approved of them, he said.
“But I can also point to other columnists who have taken on Al-Beshir’s defense. Perhaps this is freedom of the press, I replied.
“What’s your opinion? Why do you present the subject with such impartiality? he asked.
“I never hide my opinion, I said. “I have already written that accusing or absolving Al-Beshir is not the issue and that it’s not the responsibility of the press.
“What is the issue then? he said.
“The issue we must all unite to rally around, regardless of whether he is convicted or acquitted is what the International Criminal Court’s move has shown when it comes to selective justice and bias. What should take precedence, the Sudanese president’s five-year-old track record of violations, or crimes that have been committed in Palestine for over 50 years?
“Did what happen in Darfur surpass the events that have shocked the world in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Israel’s record of crimes against humanity and genocide of the Palestinian people goes back to 1948, from the Deir Yassin massacre to the Gaza blockade not to mention the prison torture and breaking the bones of the children of the intifada, Sabra and Shatila, the destruction of homes and land sequestration. Is all that too much to include in a fair international report seeking the prosecution of war criminals.
“The same can be said about the US occupation forces in Iraq and that notorious prison that has become a symbol of sick minds in their perverted desire to inflict pain and torture which goes beyond the imagination of those who wrote about the Marquis de Sade.
“If you ask my opinion, I’d say that like you, I’m against those who target Al-Beshir and parrot the accusations made by International Criminal Court’s prosecutor. I would have listened to them had they made these accusations before the ICC’s prosecutor and not waited till a foreign body accused him first, repeating the same scenario that took place with Saddam Hussein.
“But I’m also against those who defend Al-Beshir because by doing so they set in motion the very trial that they are objecting against as well as turn the issue into an investigation into whether he is guilty or innocent. This could very well be the court’s issue, but ours should not be judging Al-Beshir but judging the International Criminal Court itself and how credible it is in light of this clear partiality and selectivity which conflicts completely with the simplest laws of justice, I said.
“What worries me is that they turned Saddam Hussein into the sacrifice during Eid Al Adha when he was executed. My hunch is that they’re planning for another Arab sacrificial lamb for the next Eid a few months from now, said my friend.
“Let’s give them all the sacrificial lambs they want, I said, “but only on the condition that our sacrifices will be preceded by others whose criminal records have surpassed any Arab record.
Then I added, “We’re not the only ones who slaughter an animal for religious festivals. There are those who slaughter a Christmas turkey, for instance, the favorite meal or all American families. True that lambs are bigger and meatier, but they’re not the only dish available during special celebrations . except, that is, in the International Criminal Court.
Mohamed Salmawyis President of the Arab Writers’ Union and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo.
