ISLAMIC GROUPS BACK BASHIR

Ali Larijani, left, described the warrant as an 'insult directed at Muslims'

Officials from Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah joined Syria's parliament speaker and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group for talks with al-Bashir in Khartoum, Sudan's capital.
They travelled to Sudan to express international support for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur.
The visit comes days after the International Criminal Court at The Hague issued a warrant for al-Bashir's arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region.
Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker and a member of the international delegation in Khartoum on Friday, said the ICC arrest warrant is an "insult directed at Muslims".
"This group today indicates a readiness, a will and a unified position to support Sudan, its government and people," Larijani said at a news conference following the talks.
He said nations who support al-Bashir's prosecution "miscalculated" by thinking they "can sit and issue orders to have others behave as they wish".
"This has changed," Larijani said. "They have to play with a new chessboard.""
Meanwhile, the leader of Sudan's semiautonomous southern region urged Khartoum on Saturday to reverse its decision to expel humanitarian groups from the country.
a spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said the expulsion could have a "catastrophic" impact on tens of thousand of displaced Darfuris.

Courtesy: Al Jazeera