Sudan's president urged to surrender to war crimes court

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A Sudanese opposition leader on Monday called on Sudan's president to hand himself over to the International Criminal Court, saying he should take responsibility for war crimes in Darfur.

The call from Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi was the first significant show of dissent from inside Sudan's political system since the chief prosecutor of the global court asked judges to issue an arrest warrant against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in July, accusing him of genocide and other war crimes.

Turabi told reporters Bashir should surrender himself to save Sudan from sanctions and political turmoil that would follow if the president defied the court and carried on ruling as a wanted man.

"There is no judicial justice in this country ... As far as we are concerned there is no access to justice except through the international court," Turabi said in the Khartoum headquarters of his opposition Popular Congress Party.

"It is up to the government to hand him over or for him personally to go for the sake of his country, to protect his country against any further sanctions against the government," he added.

Turabi, who was once close to Osama bin Laden, has been a central figure in Sudanese politics for decades and has been repeatedly detained and imprisoned.

He was the spiritual mentor behind Bashir's Islamist government when it took power in a 1989 coup, but the men later fell out.

Most Sudanese opposition parties publicly rallied round Bashir after the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, accused the president of orchestrating genocide and other war crimes in Darfur. The ICC's judges are widely expected to issue a ruling on whether to issue an arrest warrant in coming weeks.