PUTRAJAYA: Non-governmental organisation MyAQSA Foundation is now the 'amicus curiae' (friend of the court) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of efforts to help establish the court’s jurisdiction over possible action against Israel’s war crimes in Palestine.
MyAQSA legal team chief, Lukman Sheriff Alias, said that as promised by ICC prosecutors to MyAQSA in their meeting in The Hague on May 2 last year, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had on Dec 20 last year formally announced that it would launch an investigation against Israel over war crimes committed against Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
However, Lukman said that before investigations and formal charges could be filed against Israel, ICC prosecutors would file an application with the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber to establish whether ICC has any jurisdiction to do so based on Article 19(3) of the Rome Statute.
This, he said, was because Israel isn’t a member of the Rome Statute and that Palestine’s sovereignty as a country had been questioned.
“As such, MyAQSA has taken a proactive step to aid the Palestinian struggle by applying for permission to act as ICC’s friend of the court.
“This will enable MyAQSA to help ICC by submitting the argument that Palestine is a sovereign country. With that, ICC can have absolute jurisdiction to investigate and subsequently prosecute Israel over the crimes it has committed,” he said.
Lukman was speaking at a press conference after a special workshop organised by MyAQSA on the ICC, Palestine and Israel’s war crimes issue at MyAQSA’s office today.
Lukman said MyAQSA was told of the application two days ago, and that the NGO had been asked to prepare the relevant arguments and send them to ICC before March 16.
He said as the sole organisation in Asia accepted by ICC as a friend of the court, it also poses a huge challenge as seven nations - Germany, Austria, Australia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Uganda and Brazil - as well as various organisations were submitting arguments in support of Israel.
“MyAQSA has already formed a special team comprising lawyers and noted legal academicians who are experienced in the area of international law. The team will be led by international law lecturer and Universiti Teknologi MARA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr Rahmat Mohamad.
“We also welcome any contributions of manpower from international legal experts who wish to help the special team in preparing the full arguments to the ICC,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rahmat said the thrust of the argument would be based on research, in particular the Asian–African Legal Consultative Organisation in 2013, which had concluded that Palestine is a sovereign nation under international law.
He said the findings were accepted by all 47 AALCO members such as China, India and Japan and thus, he was confident that ICC has the jurisdiction for the purpose.
He said ICC had already conducted preliminary investigation and possessed various evidence and information to show that Israel had broken international law.
“There is no problem with regards to evidence as we have documents and resolutions from the United Nations and Security Council showing that Israel is guilty.
“What’s important to get the hearing started, however, is to establish whether Palestine is a sovereign nation or otherwise,” he said.