Latest news with #KarimKhan
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Libyan ICC war crimes suspect arrested in Germany
It is a critical time for the ICC. Its prosecutor and four judges are facing U.S. sanctions in retaliation for an arrest warrant it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. A number of European ICC member states, including Germany, have also criticised the warrant. In addition to the sanctions, the ICC is also operating without its chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who stepped aside temporarily two months ago as he faced a probe by United Nations investigators into alleged sexual misconduct. Khan denies the allegations, and his two deputy prosecutors are running the office in his absence. In a statement on Friday, the office of the prosecutor said it expected Al Hishri to be transferred to The Hague and added that it stood ready to start his trial. "This development is so needed at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the field of accountability generally and at the ICC specifically," Kip Hale, an attorney who documented crimes in Libya for the UN, told Reuters. "Yet, it is most important for the victims of the many atrocity crimes committed at Mitiga prison." Italy arrested another Libyan ICC suspect, Osama Elmasry Njeem, in January but subsequently returned him to Tripoli, saying the arrest warrant contained mistakes and inaccuracies. He was also accused of crimes committed against detainees in Mitiga prison. His release sparked outrage among Italian opposition parties and triggered a legal investigation into Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several other government members. The court has been investigating allegations of serious crimes committed in Libya since the outbreak of its civil war in 2011, following a referral by the UN Security Council
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Federal judge blocks enforcement of Trump's order on ICC
WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked on Friday the enforcement of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order targeting those who work with the International Criminal Court. The ruling follows an April lawsuit by two human rights advocates challenging Trump's February 6 order authorizing potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions on people who work on ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies, such as Israel. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen called the executive order an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. "The executive order appears to restrict substantially more speech than necessary to further that end," she wrote. "The executive order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States, Israel, or another U.S. ally." The White House and the ICC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The executive order imposed sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who is British. The U.S. treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control also place him on a registry of sanctioned individuals and entities. U.S. citizens who provide services for the benefit of Khan or other sanctioned individuals could face civil and criminal penalties, according to the order, which has been condemned by the ICC and dozens of countries.
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Is this the end of international law and law of war as we know it?
Tony Soprano would have been proud. Sitting as an observer, a legal adviser of the US State Department threatened the International Criminal Court's (ICC) oversight body that 'all options are on the table' against the court. 'To be clear, we expect all ICC actions against the United States and our ally Israel – that is, all investigations and all arrest warrants – to be terminated,' Reed Rubinstein told the Assembly of State Parties in New York last week. 'We will use all appropriate and effective instruments to block ICC overreach ... Our additional sanctions of June 5 should underscore our resolve.' He was referring to Washington's latest sanctions against four ICC judges who issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. The sanctions followed those against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan. Last week, the Trump administration also sanctioned UN monitor on Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese. Other than pure gangsterism, it's not clear what Rubinstein and his Washington bosses think they could legitimately achieve, as neither the US nor Israel recognise the court's authority. Writing on LinkedIn in 2024, Rubinstein even claimed that the Biden administration had a 'massive programme to overthrow the Israeli government in the middle of a multi-front war'. At a US Senate hearing in March, Rubinstein explained further: 'During the Obama administration, the State Department was running money to fund an anti-government operation inside of Israel. Many of the same who were involved in the Obama administration State Department came back under president Biden, and it appears … the same playbook was being run.' Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen said these were 'conspiracy theories'. However, on the ICC, Rubinstein was not completely without legal basis, at least based on US law passed by George W. Bush during his 'war on terror'.
Egypt Independent
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
ICC believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are taking place now in Sudan's Darfur region
AP — The International Criminal Court (ICC) believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are continuing to take place in Sudan's vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years, the tribunal's deputy prosecutor said Thursday. Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur 'has reached an intolerable state,' with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted. 'People are being deprived of water and food,' she said. 'Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice.' 'And yet we should not be under any illusion,' Shameem Khan warned the UN's most powerful body. 'Things can still get worse.' Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, including to other countries, according to UN agencies. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur. The Biden administration, just before it left office in January, determined that the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide. Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as the ICC chief prosecutor pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, which he categorically denies. Deputy prosecutor Shameem Khan, who is not related, said the ICC has closely tracked reports in recent weeks of the dire situation in North Darfur, whose capital El Fasher is besieged by RSF and their affiliates. The RSF, which controls the capitals of all other states in Darfur, has also attacked famine-hit Zamzam and other camps for displaced Sudanese in North Darfur. A Sudanese woman, pictured on August 5, 2023 at her makeshift shelter in Adre, Chad, shows burn scars on her hands that she said she sustained in April 2023, after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Arab militia forces torched the displaced-persons camp where she was living in El Geneina. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters 'On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear, we have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur,' Khan told the council. This conclusion, she said, is based on documentary, testimonial and digital evidence collected by ICC investigators during the past six months, including at refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Over 7,000 items of evidence have been collected to date, she said. Khan emphasized to the council and to victims that the ICC considers the situation in Darfur 'of the utmost importance' and will not be deterred until justice is delivered to the perpetrators. Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes. Khan said those in Darfur now 'inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population' should know that while they may feel a sense of impunity, Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb is currently on trial and the ICC hopes it will be the first of many. 'However, we also have a duty of confidentiality to the court,' Khan said. 'I am not able to share more details of the nature of our progress or of specific outcomes hoped for. I can only assure you that the progress we have made is concrete, positive and significant.'
NBC News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
ICC believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are taking place now in Sudan's Darfur region
UNITED NATIONS — The International Criminal Court believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are continuing to take place in Sudan 's vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years, the tribunal's deputy prosecutor said Thursday. Nazhat Shameem Khan told the U.N. Security Council that the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur"has reached an intolerable state," with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted. "People are being deprived of water and food," she said. "Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice." "And yet we should not be under any illusion," Shameem Khan warned the U.N.'s most powerful body. "Things can still get worse." Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, including to other countries, according to U.N. agencies. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur. The Biden administration, just before it left office in January, determined that the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide. Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as the ICC chief prosecutor pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, which he categorically denies. Deputy prosecutor Shameem Khan, who is not related, said the ICC has closely tracked reports in recent weeks of the dire situation in North Darfur, whose capital El Fasher is besieged by RSF and their affiliates. The RSF, which controls the capitals of all other states in Darfur, has also attacked famine-hit Zamzam and other camps for displaced Sudanese in North Darfur. "On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear, we have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur," Khan told the council. This conclusion, she said, is based on documentary, testimonial and digital evidence collected by ICC investigators during the past six months, including at refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Over 7,000 items of evidence have been collected to date, she said. Khan emphasized to the council and to victims that the ICC considers the situation in Darfur "of the utmost importance" and will not be deterred until justice is delivered to the perpetrators. Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes. Khan said those in Darfur now "inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population" should know that while they may feel a sense of impunity, Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb is currently on trial and the ICC hopes it will be the first of many. "However, we also have a duty of confidentiality to the court," Khan said. "I am not able to share more details of the nature of our progress or of specific outcomes hoped for. I can only assure you that the progress we have made is concrete, positive and significant."
