Middle East

[Maria Crippa is a postdoctoral fellow in international criminal law at the University of Milan and a visiting researcher at the University of Tilburg. Matteo Colorio is a PhD candidate in international law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and a visiting researcher at the University of Tilburg.] Introduction Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Elmasry, was arrested in Italy on...

[Dr Eitan Diamond serves as Manager and Senior Legal Expert at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem. Dr Ellen Nohle serves as a Senior Legal Advisor and Legal Team Coordinator at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem.   Anna-Christina Schmidl serves as a Legal Advisor at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem.] Introduction Between 7 October 2023, when hostilities broke out in Israel and Gaza,...

[Dr Patrick Kroker is senior legal advisor with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, where he is responsible for the center's work on accountability for crimes in Syria. He is a German-qualified attorney and, in this capacity, regularly represents survivors of international crimes in UJ investigations and trials, including in the first case on Syrian state torture in...

[Artemis Akbary is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of ALO: the Afghan LGBT+ Organization, and member of the Gender Persecution in Afghanistan Accountability Working Group. Kirby Anwar is a Senior Legal Fellow at Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law, Advocacy Director at MADRE and member of the Gender Persecution in Afghanistan Accountability Working Group.] “I was beaten and...

Israel's consolidated interpretation of ceasefires: "you cease, I fire" (cit.).Francesca Albanese Israel recently stopped bombing Gaza, sort of, offering a moment of respite for Palestinians. This is a welcome development, to be sure. Having brutalised the enclave for nearly 18 months, collapsed the delivery of aid, obliterated health, education, and housing infrastructures, slaughtered tens of thousands, maimed tens of thousands more,...

[Marta Bo is a Senior Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and an Associate Senior Researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)] In recent years, accountability for uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare, especially under international criminal law, has progressively emerged as a critical issue in governance initiatives (SIPRI, GGE’s Guiding Principles, REAIM Blue Print for Action) and...

[Juliette Rémond Tiedrez is a Legal Researcher at the International Commission of Jurists’ Middle East and North Africa programme.] The views expressed in this post are the author’s alone and do not represent any institutional position on the part of the International Commission of Jurists. On 4 October 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) granted the Office of...

[Fatima Ahdash is an Assistant Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. Previously, Fatima was a Lecturer in Law at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research interests lie in national security, family law, child rights and human rights and their various interactions. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).] [Safaa Sadi Jaber is an S.J.D. Candidate at...

[Claudio Francavilla is associate director for EU advocacy at Human Rights Watch] Some EU governments have long prevented the EU from taking measures to address the Israeli government’s grave abuses against Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank. A slew of recent rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) make this inaction no longer tenable, and will test the...

[John Quigley is Professor Emeritus at Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University] The two Gaza genocide cases pending in the International Court of Justice bring into prominence a form of genocide that is not what constitutes the crime in the public mind, but that was very much on the minds of the drafters of the Genocide Convention. The outright...

[Ihsan Adel is the Founder and Chair of Law for Palestine and an international lawyer currently pursuing a PhD in Germany] The Israeli occupation of Palestine has long tested the limits and efficacy of international law. However, recent legal developments, particularly the ICJ's advisory opinion, have intensified the call to recognise this occupation not only as an illegal act but as...