Prosecutor Says He Was Told ICC Was Established for African, Russian Leaders
•Says he won’t be swayed by criticisms
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has disclosed that he was expressly told that the court is not for Europe and American leaders, but for African and Russian deviants.
Speaking with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, a British Iranian journalist, Khan lamented the seeming double standard exhibited by the West, saying that the comments by US lawmakers, vowing to ensure sanctions against the organisation and its leaders, was obviously a threat.
In a move rarely seen, Khan, had applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, an American ally, as well as the country’s Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.
The ICC prosecutor said his office had applied to the world court’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for the military and political leaders on both Israeli and Hamas’ sides for war crimes.
While the Hamas leaders are wanted for crimes of extermination, murder, hostage taking, rape, sexual assault and torture, Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, the denial of humanitarian relief supplies and deliberately targeting civilians
The ICC has previously issued warrants for the Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
But President Joe Biden and US lawmakers quickly rose in defence of the Israeli leader, slamming the ICC and calling the warrants “outrageous.”
However, in an interview with CNN, Khan stated that ultimately, he was only sticking with the rule of law by attempting to declare Israeli and Hamas leaders as war criminals.
He acknowledged that in the last two years he had worked amicably with the Joe Biden administration, whether it’s in Ukraine or Dafur, explaining that American values were against bullying.
“It’s against the untrammelled power against the most vulnerable, it’s the rights to the dignity of the individual. It’s the protection of babies. I mean, these are fundamental American values that should engender bipartisan support.
“Now, of course, this situation unfortunately, lies on the fault of international politics and strategic interests. And of course, I’ve had some elected leaders speak to me and we’re very, very blunt.
“This court is built for Africa and for folks like Vladimir Putin, was what one senior leader told me. But we don’t do it like that. This court is the legacy of Nuremberg, this court is a sad indictment of humanity.
“This court should be the triumph of law, over power and brute force and grab what you can, take what you want, do what you will. And we’re not going to be dissuaded by threats or any other activities because in the end, we have to fulfil our responsibilities as prosecutors, as the men and women of the office, as judges, as the registry.
“And this is something bigger than ourselves, which is the fidelity to justice. And we’re not going to be swayed by the different types of threats, some of which are from Republicans or maybe not,” he maintained.
US senators and US congress people, mostly Republicans, had written a letter signed by Senator Tom Cotton, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and others, to target the ICC and its leaders if Khan went ahead with the resolve to declare Netanyahu a war criminal.
“If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all America’s support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates and you and your families from the United States,” the lawmakers had threatened.
But Khan stated that there were ‘hotheads’ everywhere, but added that there are also people that are mature statesman and stateswoman and leaders that have fidelity to something greater than themselves.
