Prosecuting Israel for War Crimes

16 September 2009

Deputy Prosecutor of Int’l Criminal Court discusses the Palestinian Authority appeal to join the court.

Lia Tarachansky speaks to Fatou Bensouda, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the Palestinian Authority’s appeal to join the group of nations over which the court has jurisdiction. Bensouda says that before the ICC can investigate the perpetration of war crimes during Israel’s recent attack on Gaza, the court would have to rule on whether it has jurisdiction in the Palestinian Territories. For that, there would have to be clear borders identified, a task the UN would have to take on. Once the court rules on jurisdiction it would be able to prosecute anyone who committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide within the territory, even if (such as in the case of Israel) the perpetrator is not part of the International Court.

Fatou Bensouda was elected in 2004 to the post of Deputy Prosecutor by the Assembly of State Parties of the International Criminal Court. She is in charge of the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor. Prior to joining the International Criminal Court, Bensouda served as the Senior Legal Advisor and Head of The Legal Advisory Unit at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Before that, she was the Minister of Justice of The Gambia.

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli officials have rejected the call to begin an independent investigation into possible war crimes and other “serious violations” of international human rights laws related to the three-week armed conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The establishment of such an investigation was one of the primary recommendations in the U.N. report that was released on September 15.

 

The report, produced by the U.N. Human Rights Council, found that both Israelis and Palestinians violated international law during the Gaza conflict. The report said that Israel targeted civilian facilities, including government buildings, hospitals, a mosque, and farms in the Gaza Strip. The report also said that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that leads the territorial government in Gaza, was at fault for launching rocket attacks against civilian targets in southern Israel.

 

The report recommends that Israel conduct an independent investigation into the charges of war crimes, or alternatively, the matter should be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

 

Mark Regev, the spokesperson for the Israeli government, said that Israel is conducting its own investigation, whose results will be open to review by civilian courts.

 

“Our own internal investigations are much more serious than what is being produced by this report,” said Regev.

 

Richard Goldstone, the respected South African judge who headed the U.N. report, dismissed the efficacy of the Israeli investigations.

 

“The Israeli investigations have been done behind closed doors in secret by the military,” said Goldstone. “That’s hardly an investigation by any acceptable standard.”

 

Goldstone also said that while Israel has dismissed the recommendations of the report, it has not yet disputed any of the findings of fact. The report rejected Israel’s argument that the war was an act of self-defense, but rather that the war was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.”

 

Goldstone also rejected allegations that the report’s committee was biased.

 

“I deny that completely,” said Goldstone, appearing on Israeli television. “I was independent, nobody dictated any outcome…the outcome of the report which was the result [of our independent investigation.]”

 

Goldstone stressed that Israel was not the only faulted party, but that the Hamas rockets into Gaza “constitute war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity,” and that the Gazan security forces, under the control of Hamas, carried out extrajudicial executions and arbitrary arrests. The report called for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been in Gazan prisons for three years.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Guardian – Israel Rejects War Crimes Findings of UN Gaza Inquiry – 16 September 2009

 

Jerusalem Post – ‘My Wish and Hope is for an Open Israeli Probe’ – 16 September 2009

 

Ma’an News Agency – UN’s Goldstone Tells Ma’an: Israel Has Yet to Deny Our Findings – 16 September 2009

 

NPR News – Israel Rejects U.N. Report on Gaza Conflict – 16 September 2009

 

New York Times – Israel Rejects Call for Gaza Inquiry – 16 September 2009

 

 

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On September 14, trials began for six more individuals involved in protests that followed the June 12 presidential election

The six individuals are being brought before the court on charges of rioting and plotting to topple the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic. State media in Iran has reported that indictment against the defendants is focused on the defendants’ use of the internet to spread false reports in order to provoke turmoil. The indictment claims that country was under the constant threat from both “psychological welfare” and “destructive propaganda.” Among those accused is Abdollah Momeni, a well known student activist. The official news agency of Iran has said that Momeni has pleaded guilty to the charges against him and has pleaded for “Islamic mercy from the court.”

This is the fifth trial brought against protesters of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s reelection. Over 140 individuals have been put on trial for opposing the election, which opponents claim was rigged in favor of the incumbent. Opponents of the current regime have questioned the validity of the trials. Among those against the trials is former President Mohammad Khatami. Last month, the former president claimed that the confessions made by individuals on trial came as a result of “extraordinary conditions.”

The June presidential election between President Ahmedinejad and former Primer Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi sparked protests throughout the country in the days that followed. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in the streets. The opposition claimed that the outcome to the election was predetermined. Hardliners have portrayed their opponents as individuals who are backed by foreigners whose goal is the undermining of the Islamic government system. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has insisted that no election fraud occurred.

Those protesting denounced the official results that gave President Ahmedinejad another four year term. Thousands of individuals were arrested by Iranian security forces, who were working with the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guard. The official estimate from the Iranian government is that thirty-six people died in the clashes between protesters and security forces. The opposition claims that more than seventy election protesters were killed during the conflict.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran Mass Trial Resumes as Reformists Clerics Speak Out – 14 September 2009

BBC News – Six Accused in Iran Protest Trial – 14 September 2009

CBC News – Iran Protest Trials Resume Monday – 14 September 2009

Guardian.co.uk – Six Iran Activists in Dock as Mass Trial Continues – 14 September 2009

New York Times – Iran Starts Fifth Trial Over Post – Election – 14 September 2009

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government has no plans to completely freeze Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

On September 14, Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset that settlement construction in East Jerusalem will “go on as planned.” Netanyahu added that Israel had several different interests to balance in implementing its settlement policies.

 

“There has to be a balance between the desire to make progress in political negotiations and the need to allow inhabitants of Judea and Samaria to continue to lead normal lives,” said Netanyahu, referring to the Israeli names for region also known as the occupied West Bank.

 

Netanyahu’s statements came while U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell was in the region to move both the Israelis and the Palestinians toward restarting peace negotiations. For weeks, the U.S. and the Palestinians have urged the Israeli government to agree to a freeze on settlement development as a precondition to any peace talks.

 

Mitchell arrived in Israel on September 12 ahead of the United Nations General Assembly taking place during the week of September 21. Many observers speculate Mitchell is in the region to prepare Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

 

President Obama has requested that Israelis completely halt any new construction on existing settlements, following the requirements of the Roadmap, the agreement created during the Bush Administration’s peace efforts in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

 

The areas in dispute came under Israeli control after the 1967 Mideast War. Since 1967, both Israelis and Palestinians have claimed the area, which stretches from the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. Palestinians argue that Israeli settlements defeat the Palestinian goal of establishing a viable, independent state. Palestinian officials maintain their goal has remained unchanged, even in light of Netanyahu’s statements.

 

“Israel has to stop stalling and focus on creating the atmosphere for a resumption of the peace process. Its sole track should lead to the establishment of the Palestinian state,” said Sabri Seidam, an aide to President Abbas.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Al-Jazeera – Funeral Delays Netanyahu-US Talks – 14 September 2009

 

Associated Press – Netanyahu: No Complete West Bank Building Freeze – 14 September 2009

 

Christian Science Monitor – Netanyahu Defiant on Israeli Settlements Ahead of Mitchell Meeting – 14 September 2009

 

Ma’an News Agency – Netanyahu: East Jerusalem Settlements Not Up For Discussion – 14 September 2009

 

Voice of America – Israeli PM Rejects Halting Settlement Construction – 14 September 2009

 

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AL-ZAHRA, Yemen – Twelve-year-old Yemeni girl, Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died after struggling for three days in labor. Youssef died of severe bleeding while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital in the Hodeida province 140 miles west of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

Youssef was 11-years-old when her father married her to a 24-year-old man working in Saudi Arabia as a farmer. According to Ahmed Al-Quraishi, the chairman of Siyaj human rights organization, “this is one of many cases that exist in Yemen, the reason behind it is the lack of education and awareness, forcing many girls into marriage in this very young age.”

Despite its proximity to oil rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Tribal customs dominate and more than a quarter of the country’s females marry before the age of 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry. This issue vaulted into the international spotlight after the case of Nujood[VAC1] Mohammad Ali, an 8-year old girl whose unemployed father arranged a marriage with a man 20-years her senior. Ali was granted a divorce by a Yemeni court, in explaining his actions the father cited fears that she may have been kidnapped by her would be spouse had he not arranged the marriage.

Ali’s lawyer Shada Nasser [VAC2] has been a vocal advocate for the child brides. She places the blame on the government for not adopting laws which would enact a minimum age for marriage. Nasser has said the government “should launch awareness campaigns in rural areas and prevent clerics from concluding marriage contracts for girls under the age of 17.”

For more information, please see:

UN News Centre – Yemen: Unicef Chief Deplores Death of 12 -Year-Old Bride – 15 – September 2009

Arab News – 12-Year-old Yemen Bride Dies in Labor – 14 – September – 2009

Chronicle – Yemeni 12-year-old dies in labor – 12 – September – 2009

Middle East Online – Tragedy In Yemen: 12-year-old bride dies giving birth – 13 – September – 2009