State Department confirms arms shipments through Russia, affirms Universal Jurisdiction of the ICC over Al Bashir, Roxana Saberi still incommunicado

Missoula, March 4 (Al-Masakin)–Acting Deputy Spokesman for the U.S. State Department Gordon Duguid responding to reporters questions about the U.S. position on the issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed at the daily press briefing this morning that the “the United States does is we expect all parties in Darfur to cooperate with this…and we want to see those who have committed atrocities held accountable for their actions and their crimes.”

Although the United States is a non-signor to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, and has enacted legislation opposing the courts authority to try an American citizen, it has supported the authority of Universal Jurisdiction over other cases besides the indictment of Al Bashir such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Special Tribunal for Lebanonat the Hague (STL), and Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)in Phnom Penh.

Theh Spokesman also confirmed that American military supplies are now moving through Russia to supply NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, but deferred questions about the details of that operation to the Department of Defense.

With respect to the detention of American reporter in Iran Roxana Saberi the Spokesman said: “We’re working through our protecting power, the Swiss, in order to make sure that a consular officer has access, that Ms. Saberi receives legal counsel, and that any trial that would result from her charges is both transparent and follows the established judicial process.”

The Spokesman said that the Swiss have confirmed that Saberi is detained in Iran’s Evin Prison, but could not confirm the charges against her.  The Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reportedly told ABC’s Martha Raddatz that the State Department is seeking to preclude a trial in the Saberi case, the Spokesman said however that establishing consular access to Saberi and providing her with legal council was the first step in obtaining her release.

Although the American government has in the recent past moved very aggressively to quash independent media, particularly reporters working outside the mainstream media, in this country through organizations such as the FBI, which has itself threatened to murder a reporters and, in addition to unlawfully detaining several, and using stool pigeons to orchestrate near fatal attacks on journalists, said that the detention of Saberi:

“This is not the kind of response that anyone wants to see to freedom of the press, which is a basic right in most other countries. Arresting journalists and holding them incommunicado for lengthy periods of time is not in any society’s interest, and it’s certainly not something that the United States agrees with or looks on favorably.”

The American government has never demonstrated that its commitment to the freedom of the press extends beyond house journalists who function as their mouth pieces.  Others are routinely beaten and jailed.

The Spokesman went on to say that although the State Department is still seeking diplomatic engagement with Iran, Iran’s “fist is still clenched.”

“As of right now, I have seen, you know, no signals that have welcomed our overtures. The fist is still clenched, if you will. We remain open to the possibility, but we are under absolutely no illusions about the difficulty of engaging Iran and are not putting our complete hopes that it will happen in the short term,” Deputy Acting Spokesman Gordan Duguid said this morning.

EHC / EHC

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