A Libyan accused of war crimes has been arrested in Germany, ICC says
Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri was allegedly one of the most senior officials at Miriga Prison in Tripoli where thousands of people were detained. He was arrested Wednesday based on a warrant issued by the court on July 10.
'He is suspected of having committed directly himself, ordered or overseen crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence, allegedly committed in Libya from February 2015 to early 2020,' the ICC said in a statement.
El Hishri will remain in custody in Germany until legal proceedings to have him transported to The Hague are completed.
The court relies on other countries to execute its arrest warrants. It paid tribute to German authorities for detaining El Hishri.
'I thank the national authorities for their strong and consistent cooperation with the Court, including leading to this recent arrest," ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council called on the ICC to open an investigation in Libya in 2011 amid violence that led to the toppling of Moammar Gadhafi and morphed into a crippling civil war. The court issued a warrant for the longtime Libyan strongman, but he was killed by rebels before he could be detained.
The court has arrest warrants out for eight other Libyan suspects, including one of Gadhafi's sons. Earlier this year, authorities in Libya accepted the court's jurisdiction over the country from 2011 through to the end of 2027.
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Times
6 hours ago
- Times
RIP Mitteleuropa — the tragedy of a lost civilisation
For more than a week in autumn 1790 the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt was the scene of one of the oldest and most extravagant political rituals on the European continent: kings, queens, princes, ambassadors and assorted aristocrats gathered for a series of events culminating in the coronation of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as Holy Roman Emperor. Goethe, a native of the city, claimed that anyone watching could not fail to consider the celebration as the 'crowning glory of his whole life'. The future statesman Klemens von Metternich called it 'one of the most sublime and simultaneously magnificent spectacles that the world has ever seen'. A concert given by Mozart, who had travelled from Vienna in an attempt to revive his flagging career, proved a sideshow. Leopold, who, like many of his predecessors, was a member of the House of Habsburg, died of pneumonia just 18 months later before having had the chance to implement many of his planned liberalising reforms. Francis II, his more conservative son, managed 14 years, but in 1806, after military defeats by Napoleon, was obliged to abolish the title and continued to rule as mere Emperor of Austria. The coronation of the new head of a curious entity that Voltaire famously quipped was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire is an appropriate starting point for this detailed study of the part of the continent where the Germanic, Slavic and Romance worlds meet. The term Central Europe, or rather Mitteleuropa in German, was coined — appropriately enough also in 1806 — by Georg Hassel, a German geographer who defined it as the space between Russian-dominated northern and eastern Europe and the British Isles and France to the west. There is no shortage of histories of the various peoples of the region, nor of the Habsburgs, who ruled much of the area for more than 600 years. Luka Ivan Jukic, a London-based author and journalist, aims instead 'to disentangle the history of Central Europe from the histories of the many nations that have emerged from it and to show that Central European history is much more than the sum of its parts'. • How Europe forgot its history and sleepwalked into crisis Foremost among these parts were the German-speakers, long the dominant political, economic and cultural force — something they came to consider proof of their innate superiority, with disastrous consequences under Hitler. They shared the space with Hungarians, various types of Slavs — from the Poles in the north to the Croats in the south — as well as northern Italians, Lithuanians and Jews. Jukic writes fluently and peppers his book with colourful anecdotes. His decision to weave the different peoples' respective stories into a single chronological narrative makes sense, especially for times such as 1848, when a wave of revolutions promised to transform Central Europe (as would happen in 1989). The same is true of phenomena such as industrialisation and the construction of the railways. Often, though, the sheer number of separate narratives and the need to switch back and forth between places can be overwhelming. The book is subtitled The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea. Central Europe, he contends, was killed as a distinct civilisation by the Nazis as they marched eastwards. Nor did Allied victory in 1945 herald its return: the continent's rigid division into capitalist west and communist east left no space for anything in between. The idea endured, however, in the minds of cultured Czechs, Poles and Hungarians resentful of having been forcibly separated from the European mainstream after centuries and trapped on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain — as evinced by the Czech writer Milan Kundera in his 1983 essay The Tragedy of Central Europe. • The 21 best history books of the past year to read next The collapse of communism at the end of that decade brought another change of direction: admission to Nato and then to the EU from the late 1990s required the adoption of what Jukic calls the 'prescriptive bundle of policies that accompanied becoming a 'normal' western country' — from the rule of law to an economic system based on the primacy of free markets. The first generation of post-communist leaders such as Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa were happy to oblige. Their citizens' reward for enduring an initial few painful years of 'shock therapy' were soaring living standards and the satisfaction of escaping a Russian-dominated world in which their neighbours to the east remained mired. But what of Central Europe today? The emergence of the so-called Visegrád Group of Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics in the 1990s pointed to a sense of shared regional destiny. The illiberal approach of Hungary's Viktor Orban and Poland under its former Law and Justice Party government to touchstone issues such as gay rights and immigration could be taken as reflecting more conservative attitudes in the middle of the continent than in Europe's liberal west. Jukic nevertheless believes the differences between the countries of Central Europe outweigh their similarities — all the more so if Germany is considered one of their number. If anything unites them it is the legacy of their years of communism rather than the centuries spent under Habsburg rule. • Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List 'What emerged from the ruins of communist eastern Europe was not a suppressed cosmopolitan Central Europe but a series of nation-states forged in the upheavals of the early 20th century that had destroyed that very same Central European world,' he concludes. 'It is only natural that since 1989 each of these nation-states has interpreted that legacy in their own way, trying to come to terms with their own histories and places in a new world not as Central Europeans but as Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats.'Peter Conradi is author of Who Lost Russia? From the Collapse of the USSR to Putin's War on Ukraine (Oneworld £10.99) Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea by Luka Ivan Jukic (Hurst £25 pp344). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘She should answer for what she did': trial of ex-Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina begins
Rakib Hossain was just 11 years old when, standing innocently on the streets of Dhaka in July last year, he was killed by a bullet to the head – fired allegedly by the police. Hossain was one of more than 1,400 men, women and children killed in Bangladesh's so-called July revolution, when hundreds of thousands across the country rose up in protest against the country's leader, Sheikh Hasina. Her attempts to crush the mass movement included deploying heavily armed police, who – with shoot to kill orders – fired live ammunition at civilians on the streets. Ultimately, the crackdown was unsuccessful and Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh in a helicopter on 5 August last year, as angry protesters marched towards her residence and the military refused to forcefully stop them. Now, just over a year since he was killed, the trial of Hasina will begin on 3 August, as she stands accused of being responsible for the death of the 11-year-old and many others over those weeks. After months of evidence gathering, Bangladeshi prosecutors have charged her with crimes against humanity, including charges of order, incitement, complicity, conspiracy, and abetment of murder, torture and other inhuman acts. Her trial will be held before three judges of Bangladesh's international crimes tribunal (ICT); a court that Hasina set up herself while in power. Hasina will not be there. Since last August, she has been in India despite protests by the interim government leading Bangladesh. Multiple extradition requests for Hasina have been ignored. With the possibility she would be given the death penalty if found guilty, few believe Hasina will come back voluntarily. She has refused to be part of the proceedings except to plead not guilty, and has been given a state-appointed defence lawyer as she is being tried in absentia. In the days leading up to the trial, efforts have been made by Hasina and her Awami League party to discredit it and the tribunal, denying the charges and claiming they had received no formal legal notices of them. In an open letter published on Friday, Hasina described the protests that toppled her as a 'violent interruption of our hard-fought democracy' and promised to 'reclaim the institutions that were unlawfully seized'. Hossain's father, Abul Khayer, spoke of his anger that Hasina would not be present in court. 'I want to see Hasina tried in person,' he said. 'She should face the families and answer for what she did. But India won't give her back. Everyone knows that.' A year since his son was killed, Khayer said his grief had hardened into disillusionment and he expressed doubts that the tribunal would deliver true justice or accountability. After the toppling of Hasina a wave of optimism gripped Bangladesh, as an interim government led by Nobel prize-winner Muhammad Yunus was brought in with sweeping promises of democratic reform and accountability. But faith in the interim government has faded over the past year as many of the promised reforms have failed to materialise and Yunus has struggled to bring the deteriorating law and order situation and attacks against minorities under control. With the country's first elections since the fall of Hasina due in February, Khayer feared the trial would become politicised. 'Everyone has seen in the past how most often these kinds of cases have been used to gain political scores,' he said. 'The trials are dragged for years to serve people's political ambition.' Still, he insisted the trial should still go forward, if only to document the truth. 'I don't need her to sit in a dock to know what she did. She gave the orders. Everyone knows that. Let the world hear it.' For the many who saw their relatives and friends killed last July, the trial is a vital first step towards justice. While some senior government ministers and police officials were arrested, many in Hasina's regime fled the country and remain abroad. In an effort to make the trial as transparent as possible, much of it will be live streamed on television, except for moments where sensitive witnesses are testifying. It is also just the beginning. Investigators are still working on bringing Hasina to trial for a ream of other atrocities allegedly committed during her 15 years in power, including enforced disappearances and the killing, torture and mass incarceration of opponents and critics. Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor of the ICT, said the prosecution and investigation agency of the court had been 'working relentlessly' since September to find witnesses and gather evidence to bring Hasina to trial. He described it as a 'very challenging task, particularly because destruction of evidence and the involvement of a huge number of perpetrators'. Islam noted that some of those allegedly involved remained in positions of power, often making victims and witnesses reluctant to come forward. He said he was confident that the prosecution had a strong case to prove crimes against humanity were committed by Hasina. Among the key witnesses will be her former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun, who has already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the former prime minister. While some have questioned whether Bangladesh's judicial system – which was systematically eroded under Hasina – was capable of conducting a free and fair trial for Hasina, Islam said reforms had brought the ICT in line with international best practices. 'It is critical for accountability and the rule of law, and also for the victims who seek justice,' he said. 'Her intended absence from the trial should not shield her from justice.' Mohammad Arafat, who served as a senior minister in Hasina's government and is also facing charges, called the tribunal a 'political show trial'. 'The Awami League categorically rejects the politically motivated charges brought against its leadership,' he said. 'I urge the international community to recognise this tribunal for what it is: a tool to criminalise political opposition and rewrite lawful governance as criminality.' Mubashar Hasan, a political scientist who was forced into exile after he was abducted and tortured and is now a researcher at Western Sydney University, was among those who said that in an 'ideal scenario' Hasina would instead be put on trial at the international criminal court in The Hague. The Yunus-led interim government has already banned Hasina's Awami League party from taking part in the elections expected early next year, but critics have said this undermines the democratic nature of the polls, given that Awami League is still one of the country's largest parties. The election is expected to be swept by the Bangladesh Nationalist party, whose leadership suffered years of persecution under Hasina. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamist party which was banned under Hasina, is also expected to do well, which has raised concerns about the rise of Islamic hardliners undermining the country's secular foundations.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘She should answer for what she did': trial of ex-Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina begins
Rakib Hossain was just 11 years old when, standing innocently on the streets of Dhaka in July last year, he was killed by a bullet to the head – fired allegedly by the police Hossain was one of more than 1,400 men, women and children killed in Bangladesh's so-called July revolution, when hundreds of thousands across the country rose up in protest against the country's leader, Sheikh Hasina. Her attempts to crush the mass movement included deploying heavily armed police, who – with shoot to kill orders – fired live ammunition at civilians on the streets. Ultimately, the crackdown was unsuccessful and Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh in a helicopter on 5 August last year, as angry protesters marched towards her residence and the military refused to forcefully stop them. Now, just over a year since he was killed, the trial of Hasina will begin on 3 August, as she stands accused of being responsible for the death of the 11-year-old and many others over those weeks. After months of evidence gathering, Bangladeshi prosecutors have charged her with crimes against humanity, including charges of order, incitement, complicity, conspiracy, and abetment of murder, torture and other inhuman acts. Her trial will be held before three judges of Bangladesh's international crimes tribunal (ICT); a court that Hasina set up herself while in power. Hasina will not be there. Since last August, she has been in India despite protests by the interim government leading Bangladesh. Multiple extradition requests for Hasina have been ignored. With the possibility she would be given the death penalty if found guilty, few believe Hasina will come back voluntarily. She has refused to be part of the proceedings except to plead not guilty, and has been given a state-appointed defence lawyer as she is being tried in absentia. In the days leading up to the trial, efforts have been made by Hasina and her Awami League party to discredit it and the tribunal, denying the charges and claiming they had received no formal legal notices of them. In an open letter published on Friday, Hasina described the protests that toppled her as a 'violent interruption of our hard-fought democracy' and promised to 'reclaim the institutions that were unlawfully seized'. Hossain's father, Abul Khayer, spoke of his anger that Hasina would not be present in court. 'I want to see Hasina tried in person,' he said. 'She should face the families and answer for what she did. But India won't give her back. Everyone knows that.' A year since his son was killed, Khayer said his grief had hardened into disillusionment and he expressed doubts that the tribunal would deliver true justice or accountability. After the toppling of Hasina a wave of optimism gripped Bangladesh, as an interim government led by Nobel prize-winner Muhammad Yunus was brought in with sweeping promises of democratic reform and accountability. But faith in the interim government has faded over the past year as many of the promised reforms have failed to materialise and Yunus has struggled to bring the deteriorating law and order situation and attacks against minorities under control. With the country's first elections since the fall of Hasina due in February, Khayer feared the trial would become politicised. 'Everyone has seen in the past how most often these kinds of cases have been used to gain political scores,' he said. 'The trials are dragged for years to serve people's political ambition.' Still, he insisted the trial should still go forward, if only to document the truth. 'I don't need her to sit in a dock to know what she did. She gave the orders. Everyone knows that. Let the world hear it.' For the many who saw their relatives and friends killed last July, the trial is a vital first step towards justice. While some senior government ministers and police officials were arrested, many in Hasina's regime fled the country and remain abroad. In an effort to make the trial as transparent as possible, much of it will be live streamed on television, except for moments where sensitive witnesses are testifying. It is also just the beginning. Investigators are still working on bringing Hasina to trial for a ream of other atrocities allegedly committed during her 15 years in power, including enforced disappearances and the killing, torture and mass incarceration of opponents and critics. Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor of the ICT, said the prosecution and investigation agency of the court had been 'working relentlessly' since September to find witnesses and gather evidence to bring Hasina to trial. He described it as a 'very challenging task, particularly because destruction of evidence and the involvement of a huge number of perpetrators'. Islam noted that some allegedly involved remained in positions of power, often making victims and witnesses reluctant to come forward. He said he was confident that the prosecution had a strong case to prove crimes against humanity were committed by Hasina. Among the key witnesses will be her former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun, who has already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the former prime minister. While some have questioned whether Bangladesh's judicial system – which was systematically eroded under Hasina – was capable of conducting a free and fair trial for Hasina, Islam said reforms had brought the ICT in line with international best practices. 'It is critical for accountability and the rule of law, and also for the victims who seek justice,' he said. 'Her intended absence from the trial should not shield her from justice.' Mohammad Arafat, who served as a senior minister in Hasina's government and is also facing charges, called the tribunal a 'political show trial'. 'The Awami League categorically rejects the politically motivated charges brought against its leadership,' he said. 'I urge the international community to recognise this tribunal for what it is: a tool to criminalise political opposition and rewrite lawful governance as criminality.' Mubashar Hasan, a political scientist who was forced into exile after he was abducted and tortured and is now a researcher at Western Sydney University, was among those who said that in an 'ideal scenario' Hasina would instead be put on trial at the international criminal court in The Hague. The Yunus-led interim government has already banned Hasina's Awami League party from taking part in the elections expected early next year, but critics have said this undermines the democratic nature of the polls, given that Awami League is still one of the country's largest parties. The election is expected to be swept by the Bangladesh Nationalist party, whose leadership suffered years of persecution under Hasina. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamist party which was banned under Hasina, is also expected to do well, which has raised concerns about the rise of Islamic hardliners undermining the country's secular foundations.
