International Criminal Court judges mulling arrest warrants consider legal arguments on jurisdiction

[Pelican Press 0]

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International ********* Court judges mulling arrest warrants consider legal arguments on jurisdiction

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the International ********* Court’s power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the Oct. 7 attacks by ****** in *******.

The submissions filed this week come as a panel of judges considers a request by the court’s chief prosecutor for warrants against ******** Prime Minister

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, Defense Minister

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, and the recently promoted leaders of ******.

The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought warrants in May, accusing Netanyahu, Gallant, and three ****** leaders —

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, Mohammed Deif and

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— of

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in the Gaza Strip and *******.

Both Haniyeh and Deif have since been *******. Sinwar, ******’ top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks, was subsequently named the group’s new leader.

******* strongly rejects the court’s request for warrants for its leaders and insists it adheres to international law in the devastating conflict in Gaza that was triggered by the ******-led attacks.

Netanyahu called the request for warrants “a complete distortion of reality.”

The slew of written submissions is likely to delay a decision by a panel of judges on whether to issue warrants and comes despite

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that the court has jurisdiction over territories occupied by ******* in the 1967 ******** war.

International law expert Owiso Owiso, said that he believes the issue “was already determined authoritatively in 2021 and ought not to have been resurrected.”

“So really, this is merely an academic exercise at best, and one massive waste of time and resources at worst,” he added.

Most of the legal arguments focus largely on the issue of whether the court’s power to issue warrants for ******** leaders is overruled by a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace deal. As part of the deal, the Palestinians agreed that they don’t have ********* jurisdiction over ******** nationals.

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, negotiated secretly in Norway, were meant to pave the way to a two-state solution between ******* and the Palestinians. The deal created the ************ Authority and set up self-rule areas in the ************ territories. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — areas captured by ******* in 1967 — for a future state.

Among more than 50 filings, the opinions are divided over whether, under the terms of the deal, Palestinians can delegate the power to issue arrest warrants to the court.

******* didn’t file written arguments, but its staunch ally, the ******* States, did, arguing that the Oslo Accords “preserved in ******* exclusive jurisdiction over acts committed by ******** nationals. Therefore, the Palestinians could not have delegated to the Court jurisdiction they never had.”

But others cautioned judges against accepting that reading of the accords.

“The ‘delegation’ theory would shatter the Court’s jurisdiction into 124 fragments, irregularly shaped by thousands of national laws and international agreements,” wrote Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.

The ICC has 124 member states, including the State of Palestine. ******* and the ******* States aren’t members and don’t accept the jurisdiction.

The Palestinians argued in their written filing that accepting the argument “would usher in a new and retrogressive era of international order where politics and impunity prevail over justice and accountability.”

The ******* Kingdom was the first country to seek to file a written brief, but

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late last month after new Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office after winning a landslide election victory over the ************* Party of Rishi Sunak, whose administration filed its request in June.

But the U.K. request triggered a host of other filings that are now under consideration.

The ********* case at the ICC is separate to an ongoing dispute at the International Court of Justice, which also is based in The Hague. In the ICJ case, South *******, a longtime ally of the Palestinians, has accused ******* of genocide in the war in Gaza. That case is likely to take years to settle.

___

Molly Quell contributed to this report.

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#International #********* #Court #judges #mulling #arrest #warrants #legal #arguments #jurisdiction

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