IJCentral: International Justice Central

It’s great to see the Twitter flurry that came up on IJCentral yesterday as a result of conflicting reports about al-Bashir’s visit to Sudan - Sudan Times reported he had sent his VP, Mahi, but other reports including the NY Times have conclusively shown that not only was al-Bashir in Doha, but he was warmly received by the other Arab leaders at the Arab League summit.  This is a shame, but also it’s easy to see why rallying around al-Bashir is a no-brainer for despotic Arab leaders, who may fear the ICC and can rally the ‘Arab street’ around the idea that justice is not being meted out equally, as there have been no sanctions for Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza, or Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 2006.  Of course any investigation into those conflicts would have to include all parties, not just Israel.

Getting back to Twitter, there are indications that Twitter might become available as a free service around the world again, if they can work out deals with mobile phone carriers.  This is how Twitter used to be when it started, and its power as a tool for human rights and international justice awareness would be mightily increased if that happens again.