Search: Complementarity SAIF GADDAFI
22 Aug To Televise or Not to Televise (the Mubarak Trial)
While the world waits to learn the fate of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the trial of another former Mid East Leader, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, is currently underway. In terms of international interest, Mubarak may be no Gaddafi. But since the Mubarak trial concerns the former President of a strategicly important country charged with ordering the killing of unarmed protesters challenging his rule, it has the potential to rank with some of the most important world trials of all time — Goering, Eichmann, Ceausescu, Milosevic, Saddam. On the...
14 Apr Not All Aggression is Equal: Why Force for Regime Change is the Graver Breach
...by any honest account, regime change. NATO air power was employed not to protect civilians in Benghazi but to provide decisive military support for armed opposition forces seeking to overthrow the Gaddafi government, a government that, whatever its character, remained the internationally recognized governing authority of Libya. When Gaddafi was captured and killed, and the government was dismantled, the Security Council mandate had long since been exceeded. The Libya case demonstrates that regime-change aggression can be disguised, legally laundered, as humanitarian intervention when the authorization is broad enough, and the...
20 Apr Symposium: The Responsibility to Protect in Libya and Syria–Introductory Post
...tangible effects that the conflict has imparted upon international peace and security, the international community failed to adopt robust measures to bring an end to such atrocities. The Libyan conflict assumed a contrasting trajectory through NATO’s timely military intervention and the ousting of long-standing dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The end result, however, was – and remains – a state of anarchy, also characterised by the continued commission of mass atrocity crimes. These and other developments prompted a critical reflection of international legal norms pertaining to human protection vis-à-vis the ‘responsibility to...05 Oct No Surprise: Why Libya but not Syria
Despite high rhetoric being flung across the Security Council yesterday, Russia and China’s vetoing of the European-drafted resolution condemning Syria’s brutal crackdown on civilians should come as no surprise. There are a number of political-tuned reasons to explain why this Resolution failed. The first relates to the disappointment and anger expressed by China and Russia at the intervention in Libya. Both have largely been shut out of any post-Gaddafi economic windfall and it is quite clear that they did not want to see a repeat performance. Second, unlike the case...19 Jan Weekend Roundup: January 12-18, 2013
...Jennifer Trahan analysed the merits of a referral and expressed some concerns about its implementation. Kevin also weighed in with a few thoughts. Jennifer’s comment then led Kevin to develop his argument that the Security Council cannot implicitly amend the ICC Statute, which triggered further discussion in the comments. Continuing on the ICC, Kevin posted why Saif Gadhafi’s first court appearance in Libya undermines the state’s arguments in its complementarity challenge at the ICC. In another post, Kevin was very critical about the decision by Judge Pohl rejecting the argument...20 Apr Rest in Peace, John Jones QC
...at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), established to try those allegedly responsible for the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in an explosion on 14 February 2005. I had the great honour of considering a John a good friend. I first got to know him during the Gaddafi case, when he and I regularly exchanged emails about Libya’s complementarity challenge. And then he encouraged me to join the Doughty Street team as an academic member. John was, quite simply, a wonderful person — warm, funny, supportive. I...
17 Apr Strategies for Appealing the Afghanistan Decision
...of Kenya against the ‘Decision on the Request for Assistance Submitted on Behalf of the Government of the Republic of Kenya Pursuant to Article 93(10) of the Statute and Rule 194 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence'”, ICC-01/09-78, 10 August 2011, paras. 15-16; Prosecutor v. Gaddafi and Al-Senussi, ICC A. Ch., Decision on the admissibility of the “Appeal Against Decision on Application Under Rule 103” of Ms Mishana Hosseinioun of 7 February 2012, ICC-01/11-01/11-74, 9 March 2012, para. 10). That said, I think it might be worthwhile for the...
22 Apr ICC Sanctions Symposium: Implications of Trump Administration’s Sanctions on International Criminal Court Officials
...Director of Jurisdiction Complementarity and Cooperation Division (JCCD). One suspected candidate for sanctions, a mid-level official in the OTP who is a Canadian national, was not included. One academic and policy analyst in international justice, Mark Kersten, pointed out to me that, ‘Canada communicated that its citizens at the ICC should not be subject to US sanctions.’ One cannot be surprised, then, that the targeting of the two black African lawyers from The Gambia and Lesotho and exclusion of a Canadian national has created the perception among some that the...
30 Jun Australia, the Rome Statute and the War Crimes Proceedings: Where are the Victims?
...legislation and/or the International Criminal Court Act. In addition to this, it would be necessary to establish a mechanism to allow victims to communicate with authorities in the pre-trial phase. This could be included in the mandate of Arraf’s proposed permanent mechanism for the investigation of international crimes. The third option is to do nothing. The ICC was unconvinced by arguments in The Prosecutor v Saifal-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al Senussi that the absence of guarantees for victim participation and reparations in the Libyan national system was a reason to...
03 Aug Symposium on Ljubljana – The Hague Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance: Critical Reflections – Fulfilling the Potential of this Landmark Treaty
...and civil society (including Parliamentarians for Global Action) have been launched to remedy the ICC’s jurisdictional limitation, whilst the creation of the Special Tribunal has increasingly found itself in a political spotlight. One would think (and hope) that such development would prompt States to properly acknowledge how the limitations relating to jurisdictional issues – procedurally or substantively- may eventually backfire, and only lead to resorting to more cumbersome solutions. Complementarity Laying down rules for an effective State-to-State cooperation, the Convention benefits all States, irrespective of their status to the Rome...