Latest news with #PalestinianCentreforHumanRights
Leaders
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Leaders
UK Lawyers Target 10 Britons Over Alleged Gaza War Crimes
Ten British citizens, including dual nationals, served in the Israeli army face legal action for alleged accusations of committing war crimes in Gaza. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and UK-based Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) submitted a 240-page report to London's Metropolitan Police. It alleges murder, civilian attacks, and forced displacement. Lawyers demand urgent probes into these crimes. Michael Mansfield KC, a human rights barrister, argues British nationals are not 'above the law'. The dossier aims to deter future recruits from joining Israel's military. Evidence and Charges The report cites open-source data, witness accounts, and legal analysis. It links the accused to atrocities like extermination and targeting aid workers. Franck Magennis, a barrister, stressed British law allows prosecuting citizens for international crimes. 'They should face the full force of the law,' he said. Magennis compared this case to South Africa's efforts against dual nationals in Israel's military. He urged the UK to act, noting global scrutiny of foreign recruits. Ayoub Khan, a UK MP, called the submission a 'crucial first step' with potential worldwide deterrence. Over 50,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have died in Gaza since October 2023. The ICC recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes. Short link : Post Views: 28
Al Jazeera
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Top UK barrister: Israel is carrying out ‘destruction of humanity' in Gaza
London, United Kingdom – Ten British citizens, including dual nationals, who have served in the Israeli army are being accused of war crimes in Gaza. They are suspected of acts such as 'murder, extermination, attacking civilians, and deportation or forcible transfer of population', according to the Palestine-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the UK-based Public Interest Law Centre, which last week submitted a 240-page report to the Metropolitan Police's War Crimes Unit. Michael Mansfield, 83, a leading English barrister who has worked on several high-profile cases throughout his career and is dubbed 'the king' of human rights work, was among those who handed over the dossier that took a team of lawyers and researchers in Britain and The Hague six months to compile. Dozens of other barristers, lawyers, researchers and human rights practitioners have signed a letter of support, urging the Met's war crimes team to investigate the complaints. Due to legal reasons, neither the names of the suspects, some of whom worked at the officer level, nor the report in full are being made public. Alleged war crimes from October 7, 2023, to May 31 are documented in the file, which is based on open-source material and witness testimonies. Al Jazeera interviewed Mansfield about the landmark case, his views on Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and why he believes legal efforts against those involved in the onslaught remain important, even as critical rulings are ignored by those in power and mass killings continue unabated. Al Jazeera: What can you tell us about the case? Michael Mansfield: The reason I can't talk about the detail of it is perhaps obvious: … The people [accused] would immediately know who they were. If a UK national commits any serious crime abroad, … you are liable to be and are investigated, arrested, charged and tried here in the United Kingdom. This is nothing out of the ordinary in that sense. The out-of-the-ordinary bit, of course, is that it is linked to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which are international crimes. The United Kingdom can obviously investigate themselves, or the International Criminal Court can investigate and charge and so forth. Nobody can be unaware of the extent of the devastation, particularly in Gaza, although that's not the only place in the world where such things are happening. And in relation to those matters, the public are asking, 'What are we doing about it? What can we do about it?' The international institutions of justice and conventions on human rights were established just after the Second World War in order to prevent this happening, if at all possible, by intervening. [But] the United Nations's ability to intervene has been emasculated by the major nations – Russia and America nearly always opposing each other. On top of that, the United Kingdom sitting on the fence and abstaining on most of these issues. Slowly but surely, all the principles to do with the rule of law and rules-based democracy have been, essentially, denuded from practicality. The court finds it very difficult to do anything because the countries [allegedly behind war crimes] are seemingly immune. They don't mind what the international courts may think – either the International Criminal Court [or the] International Court of Justice. Al Jazeera: As most monitors and observers are unable to enter Gaza presently due to the Israeli siege, how did the researchers and lawyers behind the report identify those accused? Mansfield: Linking the individual [to the alleged crimes] is the problem. You've got to be able to provide investigators with at least enough evidence for them to say this is worth investigating. They might say, 'We can't do this. It's too difficult.' Then they might hand it over to the International Criminal Court, which has more resources. There's something called the Berkeley Protocol, which is focused on how you would gather evidence from publicly available sources. Publicly available sources could be Al Jazeera [footage]. It could be somebody doing a selfie on their own phone. The research has already been done to ensure that the material on these 10 is sufficient for the police to take a decision whether they can do more or not. Al Jazeera: This month, Hungary withdrew from the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of a visit by the Israeli premier. If the global institutions that are meant to uphold human rights laws are under threat, decisions are sidestepped, and massacres continue in places like Gaza. What impact can legal efforts like yours have? Mansfield: I think they do make a difference for those of us who care. I mean, they don't make a difference to the perpetrators. They never have. And that's why they had the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War. As a lawyer, I can't just sit back and say I've wasted 55 years of my career. I've got to be able to say I have strived hard to get a situation in which people are made accountable. The law has been unable to deliver. The law is there, the institutions are there, but until governments … start paying respect to the rule of law and not ignoring it, there are lots of different ways in which people can be made accountable. As lawyers and as thinking members of the public, we have to be at the ready to get the authorities to actually do their job because if we don't, no one else will, and it'll just get worse. The basic freedoms you and I enjoy when we can – freedom of association, movement, speech and so on – they're not divisible. What I mean by that is you might live on the other side of the world, but if it's your rights being attacked in this way, it's me as well. Make no mistake, when it's happening there, it could be you next. That sort of approach to human rights is not a sort of woke topic that just a few liberal lawyers think of. It's been fought hard for by other people. Lawyers in the past have fought very hard to set it all up. Al Jazeera: Do you classify what's happening in Gaza as a genocide? I do, yes, no question. In this particular instance, if you're attacked personally in the domestic sense or in any other, you're entitled to defend yourself but only up to a point. If you're attacked with somebody holding a wooden spoon, you can't use a machinegun to kill them. … This has gone far beyond self-defence. Of course, they [aggressors, in this case Israel] will always justify it and say that it's self-defence, but you only have to see what they've done. A lot of the victims are women and babies and children and doctors and journalists. … They are protected individuals under the law. In my view, it's clearly a genocide because they've [Israeli officials] made it very clear in various statements. They're talking about a bigger Israel. There's a political ambition that lies behind the whole thing, not for all, you know, members of the [Israeli military] and so on, but I think a sizeable proportion. [They] obviously are adhering to that principle that they want to see Gaza wiped off the map, and yes, they would like it reinstated as a Riviera resort of the Trump empire. It's gone beyond plausible. [Note: The International Court of Justice said in January 2024 that it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.] Al Jazeera: How will the world look back on this moment in history? Mansfield: I hope it will bring about change of some kind in people's hearts and minds. The leaders of the world have the right to do something about it, and I think that our own prime minister [UK Premier Keir Starmer] should do more than he's doing. Originally, we [the UK] objected to the issue of arrest warrants. However, that was the previous [Conservative] government and when [Labour's] Starmer was elected, he changed that. He withdrew his objections on behalf of the United Kingdom, so that was one step in the right direction. I think we'll look back and say, actually, thousands turn out for marches. Thousands of people are globally angry, upset and feeling hopeless, which is why keeping the law alive in the way the chief prosecutors tried to do, not just for Israel, but for other perpetrators as well, including [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Russia and Ukraine. We've got to keep the caring alive. You can't get away from it. You can't hide in your bedroom and think, 'Oh, I didn't start this.' No, you didn't, but if you're a member of the human race, I'm afraid you have a responsibility. If I don't spend every waking hour trying hard to keep what others set up in the first place [the rule of law], I feel I will have failed. You can't just back away from it and hope that it'll blow away because, well, that's what the politicians hope, that we'll all give up. I think it's [about] creating a well of public opinion, so that the politicians realise there's nowhere to go because actually they're not supported. You've got to connect, engage and then do as much as you can. That's all that can be expected. Once you do that, you'll find hundreds and thousands of others doing the same, and then eventually politicians go, 'Oh, right, there are votes here. We better do the right thing.' It's moving opinion all the time and keeping the flame alive. Al Jazeera: How would you summarise the ongoing atrocities? Mansfield: I would describe it as a mass assault and destruction of humanity. It doesn't get worse than that. Al Jazeera: You've worked on high-profile cases, such as representing the family of Stephen Lawrence, the Black British teenager stabbed to death in a racist attack, and the Birmingham Six, the group of Irishmen wrongfully arrested for bombings in 1974. What binds the work you've done together? Mansfield: It's the effect and impact on a community. Now the Lawrence case, as it turned out and as it was at the time, had a huge impact on a community. It represented a much bigger issue than, you know, the stabbing of Stephen Lawrence, which was horrific. Although it wasn't on your TV screens like Gaza and you didn't see destruction of the kind you see in Gaza, it had a similar effect on people. And there have been other cases like that. It's not about whether it's just one individual or thousands. It's about the impact on the principle of fairness. Note: This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.
Middle East Eye
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Top Gaza lawyer who survived Israeli air strike seeks prosecution of UK citizens
Raji Sourani, founder and director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, is widely considered to be one of the world's leading Palestinian lawyers. In early 2024, he narrowly survived an Israeli air strike in Gaza which blew up his two-storey home. In late February that year, he crossed into Egypt with his family. Since 2015, Sourani has led the legal team representing Palestinian victims at the International Criminal Court. And in the past year, he has been working with South Africa's legal team in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Now the lawyer is in Britain with a new aim - seeking the prosecution of 10 British citizens accused of committing war crimes in Gaza with the Israeli military. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters On Monday, Sourani joined a team of legal experts at New Scotland Yard in London in submitting a 240-page report to the Metropolitan Police's war crimes team. The report was filed on behalf of his organisation, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC). 'We give very serious evidence' The 10 people accused include Israeli dual nationals. They are suspected of crimes including murder, extermination, attacking civilians and the deportation or forcible transfer of a population. "We are here for a very special mission," Sourani told Middle East Eye on Monday, "to say to the police that there are British [citizens] who are involved in these crimes - war crimes, persecution, crimes against humanity - in the Gaza Strip, and these people should be held accountable. A team of legal experts submitted a war crimes complaint to the Metropolitan Police in London on Monday against 10 British nationals accused of committing war crimes for the Israeli military in Gaza — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 9, 2025 "We give very serious evidence for them. We collected it and we have it." "We are giving them these files so that they know and they have to proceed," he added. Sourani said he expects the police to take action: "This is a rule of law country and what we anticipate or expect is that this should work effectively, and hold these suspects accountable." ICJ president 'plagiarised 32 percent of pro-Israel dissenting opinion' Read More » But he levied heavy criticism against Prime Minister Keir Starmer for having denied that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In November last year, Starmer - a former human rights lawyer - was asked in parliament to share his definition of genocide and to outline what action he was taking to save the lives of people in Gaza. In response, he said he was "well aware of the definition of genocide" and that this explained why he had "never described or referred to [the situation in Gaza] as genocide". His remarks followed similar denials from Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who suggested that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza because millions of people have not been killed. "I think it's a big shame on the prime minister and prosecutor if they are saying it's not genocide," Sourani told MEE. "I'm representing the victims. I'm the one who is on the ground and building these files. You don't need to be a first-class lawyer to prove that. The genocide is being broadcast live." 'You cannot be selective' Sourani sent a message to Starmer: "How many, Mr Prime Minister, do you need of Gaza's children and women to be dead? How many of them do you need to be in famine? How many of them do you need to be displaced and to be kicked out of the Gaza Strip? "It's a big shame when 18,000 children of Gaza [have been killed] and he doesn't recognise genocide." 'How many, Mr Prime Minister, do you need of Gaza's children and women to be dead?' - Raja Sourani Sourani continued: "You didn't prevent it. You covered it up. You gave reasons for it. This is going on livestream, 18 months, and you still don't recognise it. This is a big shame on the British government." Now, he said, was the time for legal action against individuals responsible for war crimes in Gaza. "You are calling for rule of law, democracy, human rights. You cannot be selective. You cannot politicise this." The report, which has been prepared by a team of UK lawyers and researchers in The Hague and is based on six months of research, covers alleged offences committed from October 2023 to May last year. Jake Taylor, a barrister from Doughty Street Chambers, was one of the legal experts behind the report. "This has been a six-month intensive process, with the team of lawyers working around the clock in order to go through the vast amount of material available," he told MEE. "Under British law, there is an obligation to investigate British nationals for international crimes if there is significant suspicion. The police will conduct their own investigation. The Hind Rajab Foundation: Pursuing Israeli soldiers worldwide for Gaza war crimes Read More » "The majority of [the report] is open source. We have not done the investigation for the police. We have accumulated all this evidence and passed it on to them, and asked them to investigate themselves." If the police decide there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute, prosecutions will proceed. "I think it's about time for the ICC to activate itself again and do something more serious. They do have the chain of command and they do have the evidence. We are sure that they have enough to act," Taylor said. The Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation has sought to initiate nearly 100 cases against Israeli soldiers in 14 countries with universal jurisdiction: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Thailand. In January this year, the Israeli military advised dozens of soldiers against travelling abroad after reportedly tracking around 30 war crimes complaints and legal actions targeting its personnel for their roles in operations in Gaza.
Al Jazeera
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
UK lawyers accuse 10 Britons who fought for Israel in Gaza of war crimes
A dossier against 10 British nationals accused of war crimes while they fought for Israel in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip has been filed to London's Metropolitan Police by a leading human rights lawyer. The 240-page report, compiled by Michael Mansfield and other lawyers in The Hague, was submitted on Monday on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the British-based Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) – which are representing Palestinians in Gaza and the United Kingdom. They are accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination, displacement, and murder. 'I could not bear what I saw: dead bodies scattered next to each other,' a witness whose relatives were killed in an Israeli attack said in testimony collected by PCHR. The report, which has not been published, is calling for an urgent investigation into allegations that include the targeted killing of civilians and aid workers, according to several media outlets. It reportedly provides detailed, fully researched, and solid evidence of their involvement in these grave crimes, and specifically identified 10 people who have not been publicly named, some of whom hold Israeli citizenship. Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from London's Scotland Yard, said the report has not been made public for legal reasons. The report accuses suspects of 'coordinated attacks on protected sites, including historic monuments and religious sites, and forced transfer and displacement of civilians', according to the newspaper The Guardian. The British news outlet cited Sean Summerfield, a lawyer who helped compile the dossier, as saying that the research was based on open-source evidence and witness testimony, which together, presented a 'compelling' case. We are standing at the brink of the collapse of the rule of order because certain states have taken it upon themselves … to act with impunity,' Mansfield told reporters outside the police building. Speaking to the United States news site Zeteo, Mansfield said allegations also include 'mass killing, mass destruction, and mass displacement'. The report says that the UK has a responsibility under international law to investigate and prosecute those who have committed international crimes. When asked whether the British government should ban British nationals from serving in the Israeli military, Mansfield said: 'It would be possible for the government to indicate, as they have on other occasions, that it would be unlawful to join an army that in its view is conducting an unlawful war.' Mansfield further spoke on the lack of governmental action, saying that many nations across the world are 'not doing anything' and are instead supporting Israel's government. 'I think it's another reason why the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Public Interest Centre have decided to, as it were, prompt the government … into action,' Mansfield said. Since Israel renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, ending a short-lived ceasefire with Hamas, it has pushed to seize territory by force and so far killed more than 1,300 people, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, most of them women and children.
National News
25-03-2025
- Politics
- National News
Palestinian family's home hijacked by Israeli settlers during iftar meal
NNA - A Palestinian family returned to their West Bank home on Monday after breaking their Ramadan fast to find Jewish settlers had taken over their building with Israeli soldiers blocking their path. The seizure took place in Hebron at iftar time with a video of the incident showing settlers storming the building in the Tel Rumeida area and raising the Israeli flag. Soldiers prevented the building's Palestinian residents from returning to their homes. "It is time to stop the absurdity that a handful of messianic settlers determine the foreign and security policy of an entire country," said the Peace Now advocacy group. "Settlers claim that they purchased the house and the entire system is already aligning itself with them, the army allows them to enter and prevents the Palestinian family from returning to their home, and then will be forced to secure the settlers in a new area in Hebron. The government is responsible and can and must evacuate the settlers immediately." Israeli authorities refused to acknowledge the complaint from the family about the theft of their home with fears the new settlement enclave will see further restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the neighbourhood. Hebron is one of the most notorious parts of the West Bank for settler activity, with Palestinians in the city suffering attacks by settlers and extreme curbs on their civil liberties by Israeli forces, particularly in the H2 district. Israeli forces have been deployed in large numbers to guard an Israeli settlement in the heart of Hebron, adding huge restrictions on free movement for Palestinian residents. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has raised the alarm that settlement expansion in Hebron is altering the demographic makeup of the city, coinciding with Palestinian homes being demolished, land seized, and new settler outposts being established. Israel settler expansion and repression of Palestinians in the West Bank has intensified under Netanyahu's new far-right government, with some ministers living on illegal settlements. --- New Arab ================
