LEBANON REVERSES DECISION TO GRANT ICC JURISDICTION TO INVESTIGATE MURDER OF LEBANESE JOURNALIST & OTHER ISRAELI WAR CRIMES ON ITS SOIL
May 30, 2024Lebanon has reversed a move to authorise the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes on its soil, prompting a prominent rights group to deplore what it called the loss of an “historic opportunity” for justice.
In April, Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet voted to instruct its foreign ministry to file a declaration with the ICC authorizing it to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes on Lebanese territory since October 7.
Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib never filed the requested declaration, and on Tuesday the cabinet published an amended decision that omitted mention of the ICC, saying Lebanon would file complaints to the United Nations instead.
Habib did not respond to a Reuters question on why he did not file the requested declaration.
Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC, so a formal declaration to the court would be required from either to give it jurisdiction to launch probes into a particular period.
A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the initial cabinet decision raised “confusion” over whether a declaration would “open the door for the court to investigate whatever it wanted across different files.”
The official said the request to revisit the decision came from George Kallas, a cabinet minister close to parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Shiite Muslim Amal movement that is allied with the politically powerful Hezbollah.
Contacted by Reuters, Kallas confirmed that he requested a review of the cabinet’s initial decision, but denied that it was out of fear Hezbollah or Amal could become subject to ICC arrest warrants.
Human Rights Watch condemned the cabinet’s reversal.
The initial push to file an ICC declaration came from MP Halima Kaakour. She recommended the measure to parliament’s justice committee, which unanimously endorsed it, and the cabinet approved it in late April.
“Lebanon’s complaints to the UN Security Council don’t get anywhere. We had an opportunity to give the ICC a period of time to look at it, we have the documentation — if we can use these international mechanisms, why not?”
@reuters
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