Amal named adviser to ICC prosecutor

THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court’s new prosecutor on Friday named prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney as a special adviser on Sudan’s Darfur conflict.

Clooney has previously been involved in a number of cases at the Hague-based ICC, the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal. Her post focusing on Darfur is one of several new special portfolios created by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, a Briton who took office in July.

"I am delighted to welcome such an outstanding group of experts and I am grateful for their willingness to serve as my special advisers," Khan said in a statement. Clooney’s husband, the Hollywood actor George Clooney, is a longtime campaigner for human rights in the Darfur region.

The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million people were displaced in the 2003-4 Darfur conflict. Fighting broke out when black African rebels, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir’s Arab-dominated regime.

London-based Amal Clooney represented Darfur victims in a case at the ICC against Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militia -- a notorious armed group created by the government.

She has also been involved in a string of human rights cases involving countries including Iraq, Myanmar and the Philippines, and criminal cases covering Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia.