Iran submits 100-page indictment of Israel to Interpol

 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:19:36 GMT

The Conference of Prosecutors of Islamic States, Tehran, Iran, Apr. 22

 

Prosecutors from Muslim states take up the cudgels against Israel, entering their name in a judicial battle to mete out justice for Gazans.

Iran on Tuesday kicked off a two-day event to explore ways to prosecute Israeli political and military officials for carrying out acts of aggression against civilians and committing crimes against humanity in the war against Palestinians.

The nearly 200 international legal experts who attended the Conference of Prosecutors of Islamic States threw their weight behind the calls for war crime charges against Israel on Wednesday and drew up a 100-page indictment on the issue.

Supported by up to 5,000 pieces of evidence, the indictment seeks to bring to justice the echelons behind the ongoing 21-month blockade of the Gaza Strip and the latest war unleashed on the territory.

Iranian Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi said the indictment had been forwarded to Interpol and is expected to soon be put to discussion.

In their Final Declaration, the prosecutors called on all relevant international bodies and individual states to examine and to act upon the prepared indictment.

A summary of the document, obtained by Press TV, states that the charges brought against Israeli leaders were based on internationally recognized human rights laws and treaties.

The indictment specifically mentioned the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 and 2005 Additional Protocols.

According to the statement, in addition to eyewitness testimonies, reports issued by international observers, NGOs and recognized international organizations such as the UN have been used as evidence of Israeli misconduct.

The latest three-week Israeli military campaign on Gaza, named Operation Cast Lead, claimed the lives of over 1,350 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Nearly 5,450 Gazans were injured.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians also died during the conflict.

Israel has since come under fire by human rights groups for its disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate attacks that led to high civilian casualties, attacks against aid workers and journalists, the use of banned weapons such as white phosphorus munitions and the bombing of non-military and UN flagged buildings.

MJ/AAM/AA

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the International Conference of the Prosecutors of Islamic Countries in Tehran April 22, 2009.

Wed Apr 22, 11:35 AM ET

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the International Conference of the Prosecutors of Islamic Countries in Tehran April 22, 2009.REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

Wed Apr 22, 4:14 AM ET

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the International Conference of the Prosecutors of Islamic Countries in Tehran April 22, 2009.REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN POLITICS)

 

Wed Apr 22, 4:39 AM ET

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) speaks to supporters after a speech at the International Conference of the Prosecutors of Islamic Countries in Tehran April 22, 2009. Iran’s president accused Israel on Wednesday of “brutal acts” and “ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinians, two days after his denunciation of the Jewish state as racist prompted a walk-out from a U.N. meeting on race.REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN POLITICS RELIGION)

Tue Apr 21, 4:10 AM ET

Tehran’s Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi speaks to a journalist as he attends the International Conference of the Prosecutors of Islamic Countries in Tehran April 21, 2009.REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN POLITICS)

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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U.S. applauds opening of Special Tribunal for Lebanon at Hague

Missoula, March 1 (Al-Masakin)–Acting State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement to the press that the United States applauds the opening of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at the Hague.  The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established June 10, 2007 to prosecute those responsible for the attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others Feb. 14, 2005.

“Today’s opening of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon represents an important step toward justice in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. His death —along with the deaths of other Lebanese patriots — was an unsuccessful attempt to undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty. The Lebanese people answered his assassination with the Cedar Revolution, leading to the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the most democratic Lebanese elections in decades.
“The Tribunal is a clear signal that Lebanon’s sovereignty is non-negotiable. Moreover, we hope it will help deter further violence and end a sad era of impunity. Too many Lebanese families have never seen justice for the murder of their loved ones.
“We applaud the brave and tireless work of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission and Lebanese judicial authorities who have brought the investigation and Tribunal this far. We will continue to assist their efforts, and recently pledged another $6 million, pending Congressional approval, towards the Tribunal’s operations in addition to the $14 million already contributed,” the press statement said.

The United States supports the mandate of Universal Jurisdiction except when applied to itself or Israel.  The United States adheres to the American Service-Members Protection Act in 2002, an act which has been called the “Hague Invasion Act” by employees of the ICC because the United States, through this document, promises to invade Holland if any American government officials or service members are ever indicted there. The the American Service-Members Protection Act authorizes the President to use “all means necessary and appropriate” to bring about the release from captivity of U.S. or Allied personnel detained or imprisoned against their will by or on behalf of the ICC.

EHC / EHC

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad submits bill on Universal Jurisdiction and international war crimes, awaits Majlis and Guardian Council approval

View Rate : 1125 #            News Code : TTime- 189890        Print Date : Monday, February 23, 2009 Ahmadinejad submits intl. war crimes bill Tehran Times Political Desk TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a bill to the Majlis on Sunday calling for the investigation of international war crimes. In January, the cabinet approved the bill calling for the prosecution of individuals charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially against Muslim people, in any part of the world. According to the bill, massacring people or depriving them of basic necessities and blocking the supply of humanitarian assistance with the aim of exterminating all or part of a population because they practice a particular religion or inhabit a particular region are all considered genocide and those convicted of such offenses will be sentenced to death or receive a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life. Displacing people, racism, rape, and other similar inhumane actions perpetrated against a civilian population on a large scale in order to carry out the policies of an organization or a government are deemed to be crimes against humanity and those convicted of such offenses will be sentenced to 10 to 20 years imprisonment, the bill states. The bill also defines the deliberate murder of people, illegal confiscation of assets, forcing captives to fight against their own country, taking hostages, using toxic weapons, starving civilians, and recruiting children under 15 year olds for military operations as war crimes. If the bill is approved by the Majlis and the Guardian Council and becomes a law, the Iranian Judiciary will designate some of its courts in Tehran for holding trials

Three judge panel of the ICC to publish decision on possible arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir March 4

Missoula, Feb. 23 (Al-Masakin)–The International Criminal Court (ICC) shall publish its decision on whether or not to issue an arrest warrent for Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

In an effort to quash media rumors about a possible arrest warrant being issued for Al Bashir, the three judeg panel of Pre-Trial Chamber I,  after noting the Prosecution’s application for an arrest warrent for Al Bashir made July 14, 2008, article 58 of the Rome Statute, which established the procedure for issuance of summons and arrest warrents for failure to appear, and article 68 which protects the witness and victims of the crimes, decided to make a public announcement on the disposition of the case March 4.

EHC / EHC

“Killing Fields” trial of Khmer Rouge official Kaing Guek Eav “Duch” begins at UN backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh

Tue Feb 17, 2:12 AM ET

Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Kaing Guek Eav, also know as ‘Duch,’ looks on during the first day of a U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The notorious torture center boss went before Cambodia’s genocide tribunal Tuesday for its first trial over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime more than three decades ago.(AP Photo/Adrees Latif, POOL)

Mon Feb 16, 10:53 PM ET

Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Kaing Guek Eav, right, also know as ‘Duch’ looks up while talking with a lawyer during the first day of a U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Duch went before Cambodia’s genocide tribunal Tuesday for its first trial over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime more than three decades ago.(AP Photo/Adrees Latif, POOL)

UN-backed court opens trial against Khmer Rouge official for Cambodian atrocities

Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is “Duch”, faces charges of crimes against humanity

17 February 2009 –

The first trial of a Khmer Rouge official got underway today at a United Nations-backed tribunal, three decades after hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died as a result of atrocities committed by the regime.Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is “Duch”, faces charges of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, in addition to the offences of homicide and torture under Cambodian criminal law.

Duch has been indicted by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh in relation to alleged offences committed while he was chief of the notorious S-21 camp, also known as Toul Sleng, where numerous Cambodians were unlawfully detained, subjected to inhumane conditions and forced labour, tortured and executed in the late 1970s.

“The Cambodian people have waited 30 years for this day, to find justice for the suffering in which over a third of the population perished,” said Tony Kranh, the ECCC’s acting Director of Administration.

Estimates vary but as many as two million are thought to have died during the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, which was then followed by a protracted period of civil war in the impoverished South-East Asian country.

“This is an historic moment and an important step towards bringing about accountability for crimes and providing justice for the accused and victims of atrocities committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime in the late 70s,” added Knut Rosandhaug, the Deputy Director of the ECCC, and Coordinator of the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT).

Today’s initial hearing signals the formal commencement of Kaing Guek Eav’s trial, which will be followed by a hearing on the substance of the allegations made against him. It also finalized the scheduling of witnesses and experts to be heard at the trial.

The ECCC, established in 2003 under an agreement between the UN and Cambodia, is tasked with trying senior leaders and those most responsible for serious violations of Cambodian and international law committed during the Khmer Rouge rule. It is staffed by a mixture of Cambodian and international employees and judges.

 

Al-Masakin Op/Ed: Israel not immune to Universal Jurisdiction

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/02/03/18567946.php

Al-Masakin Op/Ed: Israel not immune to Universal Jurisdiction

by al-masakin
Tuesday Feb 3rd, 2009 10:11 AM

Treaty of Rome non-signor status should not make Israel immune to the Universal Jurisdiction of the ICC

Inability to prosecute Israel for war crimes at the ICC, on account of it being a non-signor to the Rome Treaty, is a conundrum creating the very ‘climate of impunity’ necessitating that Israelis be tried there

israel-icc_3feb09.pdf
download PDF (117.8 KB)

Op/Ed

By Edward Campbell

Missoula, Feb. 3 (Al-Masakin)—Israel, by asserting that since they are non-signors to the Rome Treaty, and therefore cannot be tried in the International Criminal Court (ICC), is a advancing the paradox that makes the trial of Israeli officials there necessary.

The legal doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction, in the past, has raised the objection of a so-called ‘spatial fix.’ That is, to say it has raised the question as to whether or not a trial of state officials in an international court violates the sovereignty of their country of origin for that official, because it tries criminals in a geographic space different from where those crimes were committed.

The ICC, however, claims to have jurisdiction over crimes of such great importance that they can be prosecuted

anywhere, not just in the countries where those crimes were committed.

The ICC prosecutes crimes which it says are of ‘international concern’ in three categories: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, with the aim of fighting ‘local impunity’ on account of a local crisis of jurisdiction.

The jurisdiction of the ICC applies where local jurisdiction does not. In other words, the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over crimes of international concern where a sovereign national court is unable or unwilling to prosecute.

This is precisely the situation with respect to recent Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Israel refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the ICC out of fear for its leadership. But since there is no indication by Israel that war criminals on its own territory will be prosecuted in an Israeli court, universal jurisdiction must apply.

The question raised by the doctrine of universal jurisdiction was very different when applied to, for instance, the case of Saddam Hussein. For although Saddam Hussein was a war criminal, there was a sovereign national court to try him in, thus removing him from Iraqi jurisdiction, to be tried under universal jurisdiction at the ICC, would have been inappropriate for there was no ‘crisis of impunity’ in Iraq.

But there is in Israel, since refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the ICC at the Hague out of the fear that its leadership may be prosecuted there; though it has supported universal jurisdiction in past when applied to other sovereign entities. The fact that Israel has not agreed to be tried in an international criminal court under universal jurisdiction does not prove that it cannot be tied in one, for that fact that Israeli war criminals cannot be tried in Israeli proves local impunity exists, and ought to necessitate the jurisdiction of a court like the ICC.

Therefore the doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction should apply, for the crisis of impunity indeed exists. Unless, of course, Israel were now to show its willingness to try its own citizens for war crimes on its own territory and in its own courts, for that war crimes were committed is already in evidence prima facie.

The question which has been raised as to whether or not Palestine has legal standing to advance its cause in a court such as the ICC, because it is not recognized as a sovereign state, is rather absurd since criminal courts are finders of fact as to whether or not a lawful person committed a crime at law.

To say that Palestine has no standing in these courts is to insinuate that the persons against whom these crimes were committed are not really persons with respect to the law and therefore crimes committed against them would not truly be crimes but merely Torts. That is absurd. For even if the Palestinian people were not to be considered a lawful people, the ICC still has jurisdiction over property crimes which would amount to war crimes. For crimes against property crimes do remain.

Asserting that Palestinians are not people, but in fact are property, which can be destroyed at will, and that Israel cannot be tried for that, is to say not only are the Palestinian people not a people, but that as a people are not only property, but that they are Israeli property. That is absurd, for Israel is both a criminal and a tortfeasor.

Therefore universal jurisdiction must apply, for the Palestinian people are a lawful people precisely through the fact that they are not the property of Israel, but neither is their property safe from Israel. As a people neither they nor their property is under Israeli jurisdiction, but neither is the Israeli leadership.

EHC/EHC
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