ID :
182764
Tue, 05/17/2011 - 21:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/182764
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ICC request for Gaddafi arrest step towards justice: Amnesty
London, May 17 (PTI) Rights group Amnesty on Tuesday said
ICC's seeking of arrest warrants against Muammar Gaddafi and
his son was a step towards accountability but asked the
international community not to be "selective" in seeking
justice by ignoring similar violations in places like Syria.
The International Criminal Court's Prosecutor Luis
Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement on Monday that he was
seeking warrants for al-Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and
military intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi on two types of
crimes against humanity -– murder and persecution.
"The request for arrest warrants is a step forward for
international justice and accountability in the region," said
Michael Bochenek, Amnesty International's Director of Law and
Policy.
However, he said, the international community that
came together in such unprecedented agreement to refer Libya
to the International Criminal Court, "cannot allow justice to
appear selective".
"By any standard, what is happening in Syria is equal
to if not worse than the situation in Libya when the Security
Council referred that country to the ICC," he said.
Amnesty International has said it found evidence of
crimes against humanity committed in Libya against protesters
and civilians before the armed conflict began.
A wave of killings and enforced disappearances of any
suspected critic of the government, including children, began
in February this year following mass protests that erupted
across the Middle East and North Africa, it said.
Amnesty International called on the UN Security
Council to uphold the neutrality of international justice, by
authorising an ICC investigation into the mass killings of
civilians in Syria.
"Real international justice has to be for everyone –
including everyone in the Middle East and North Africa," said
Michael Bochenek.
If the arrest warrants are issued as expected, Amnesty
International urges Colonel al-Gaddafi to surrender himself to
face trial before the ICC.
All member states of the United Nations would be
obliged to deny him and his co-accused safe haven, it said.
ICC's seeking of arrest warrants against Muammar Gaddafi and
his son was a step towards accountability but asked the
international community not to be "selective" in seeking
justice by ignoring similar violations in places like Syria.
The International Criminal Court's Prosecutor Luis
Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement on Monday that he was
seeking warrants for al-Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and
military intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi on two types of
crimes against humanity -– murder and persecution.
"The request for arrest warrants is a step forward for
international justice and accountability in the region," said
Michael Bochenek, Amnesty International's Director of Law and
Policy.
However, he said, the international community that
came together in such unprecedented agreement to refer Libya
to the International Criminal Court, "cannot allow justice to
appear selective".
"By any standard, what is happening in Syria is equal
to if not worse than the situation in Libya when the Security
Council referred that country to the ICC," he said.
Amnesty International has said it found evidence of
crimes against humanity committed in Libya against protesters
and civilians before the armed conflict began.
A wave of killings and enforced disappearances of any
suspected critic of the government, including children, began
in February this year following mass protests that erupted
across the Middle East and North Africa, it said.
Amnesty International called on the UN Security
Council to uphold the neutrality of international justice, by
authorising an ICC investigation into the mass killings of
civilians in Syria.
"Real international justice has to be for everyone –
including everyone in the Middle East and North Africa," said
Michael Bochenek.
If the arrest warrants are issued as expected, Amnesty
International urges Colonel al-Gaddafi to surrender himself to
face trial before the ICC.
All member states of the United Nations would be
obliged to deny him and his co-accused safe haven, it said.
