by Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC)
August 20, 2013
from
GlobalResearch Website
Tribunal Hearing against Israel and
General Amos Yaron
“WHY is it that the murder of one man is
considered a criminal act
whereas the killing of hundreds of thousands of
innocent people
committed in wars, is not considered so?
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
former Prime Minister of Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, 19 August 2013
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (KLWCT)
will be hearing war crimes and genocide charges against Amos Yaron, a
retired Israeli army general and the State of Israel from 21 to 24 August in
Kuala Lumpur.
This is the first time that war crimes charges will be heard against the
retired general and the State of Israel in compliance with due legal
process.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC),
having received complaints from victims from Palestine (Gaza and West Bank)
and the Sabra-Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon, in 2012, investigated these
complaints resulting in the institution of formal charges on war crimes
against the accused.
The suffering of the Palestinian people have been well documented over the
decades without any legal recourse being open to these people.
Legal obstacles are placed in their path denying
them the right to be heard. The international community too has failed to
recognise their fundamental human right to be heard. The KLWCC founded in
2008 was established to fill this void and act as a peoples’ initiative to
provide an avenue for such victims to file their complaints and let them
have their day in a court of law.
Witnesses are scheduled to testify against the accused during the course of
the tribunal hearing.
Eyewitnesses of
the Sabra-Shatila massacre will be
testifying at the hearing and one of them include prominent surgeon and
author Dr Ang Swee Chai. Other witnesses at the hearing will also include
those from Gaza during the Operation Cast Lead 1 that resulted in the loss
of numerous civilian lives and destruction of property where even children
were victims.
Expert witness Paola Manduca, a retired Professor at University of
Genoa, Italy who is an expert Geneticist will testify on the impact of
weapons on reproductive health arising from the attacks in Gaza, especially
to children.
There will also be witnesses from the West Bank
to testify on alleged Israeli state violence and atrocities against the
Palestinian people.
The first charge against
Amos Yaron for War Crimes, Crimes
Against Humanity, and Genocide is as follows:
The defendant Amos Yaron perpetrated War
Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide in his capacity as the
Commanding Israeli General in military control of the Sabra and Shatila
refugee camps in Israeli occupied Lebanon in September of 1982 when he
knowingly facilitated and permitted the large-scale Massacre of the
Residents of those two camps in violation of the Hague Regulations on
Land Warfare of 1907; the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949; the 1948
Genocide Convention; the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg
Judgment (1946), and the Nuremberg Principles (1950); customary
international law, ‘jus cogens’, the Laws of War, and International
Humanitarian Law.
The other charge, which is against the State of
Israel for the Crime of Genocide and War Crimes, is as follows:
From 1948 and continuing to date, the State
of Israel (hereafter ‘the Defendant’) carried out against the
Palestinian people a series of acts namely killing, causing serious
bodily harm and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to
bring about physical destruction.
The conduct of the Defendant was carried out
with the intention of destroying in whole or in part the Palestinian people.
These acts were carried out as part of a
manifest pattern of similar conduct against the Palestinian people. These
acts were carried out by the Defendant through the instrumentality of its
representatives and agents.
Such conduct constitutes the Crime of Genocide under international law
including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide 1948
(‘the Genocide Convention’) in particular Article II and punishable under
Article III of the said Convention. It also constitutes the crime of
genocide as stipulated in Article 10 of the Charter of the Kuala Lumpur War
Crimes Commission.
Such conduct by the Defendant as an occupying power also violates customary
international law as embodied in the Hague Convention of 1907 Respecting the
Laws and Customs of War on Land, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.
Such conduct also constitutes War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity under
international law.
The trial will be held before the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, which is
constituted of eminent persons with legal qualifications.
The judges of the Tribunal will be headed by retired Malaysian Federal Court
judge Tan Sri Dato Lamin bin Haji Mohd Yunus Lamin, who also served
as an ad litem judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Republic of Yugoslavia.
The other judges in the Tribunal include notable names such as,
-
Mr
Alfred Lambremont Webre, a Yale
graduate, who authored several books on politics
-
Tunku Sofiah Jewa, practicing lawyer and
author of numerous publications on International Law
-
Prof Salleh Buang, former Federal
Counsel in the Attorney-General Chambers and prominent author
-
Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Shad Saleem
Faruqi, prominent academic and professor of law
-
Michael Hourigan, an internationally
renowned human rights lawyer
-
Prof Eric David, an International
Humanitarian Law expert who was counsel at the International Court
of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The Tribunal will adjudicate and evaluate the
evidence presented as in any court of law. The judges of the Tribunal must
be satisfied that the charges are proven beyond reasonable doubt and deliver
a reasoned judgment.
In the event the tribunal convicts any of the accused, the only sanction is
that the name of the guilty will be entered in the Commission’s Register of
War Criminals and publicized worldwide. The tribunal is a tribunal of
conscience and a peoples’ initiative.
The prosecution for the trial will be lead by Prof Gurdial S Nijar,
prominent law professor and author of several law publications and Prof
Francis Boyle, leading American professor, practitioner and advocate of
international law, and assisted by a team of lawyers.
The trial is open to the public and will be held on August 21-24, 2013
at the premises of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalize War (KLFCW) at
88, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur.
For further information, please contact:
Dato’ Dr Yaacob Merican
Secretary General of the KLWCC Secretariat
Tel: +6012-227 8680
Ms Malkeet Kaur
Media Representative of KLWCC
malkeet@dbook.com.my
Tel: +6012-3737 886
About Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Commission (KLWCC)
The KLFCW established the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (The
Commission), to investigate cases of war crimes that have been neglected by
established institutions such as the International Criminal Court.
The Commission seeks to influence world opinion
on the illegality of wars and occupation undertaken by major Western powers.
The aim of The Commission is thereby to hold perpetrators of war crimes
accountable for their actions especially when relevant international
judicial organs fail to do so.
The Commission
The commission’s function is to:
-
receive complaints from any victim(s) of
any conflict on:
-
Crimes against peace
-
Crimes against humanity
-
Crimes of genocide
-
War crimes
-
investigate the same and prepare a
report of its findings. To further call for more evidence or where
The Commission is satisfied to recommend prosecution
The Legal Team
The legal team’s aim is to present the complaints of victim(s) of any
conflict and to act on the recommendation of The Commission’s report and to
frame charges and prosecute accused person(s).
The Tribunal
The Tribunal shall adjudicate on the charges filed against the accused
person(s) The applicable standard of proof shall be beyond reasonable doubt.
About the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to
Criminalise War (KLFCW)
Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad founded the
Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalize War (KLFCW), a non-governmental
organization established under the laws of Malaysia on 12 March 2007.
The main objectives of the Foundation, as stated in its Statutes are, inter
alia:
-
To undertake all necessary measures and
initiatives to criminalize war and energize peace;
-
To provide relief, assistance and
support to individuals and communities who are suffering from the
effects of war and armed conflict wherever occurring and without
discrimination on the grounds of nationality, racial origin,
religion, belief, age, gender or other forms of impermissible
differentiations;
-
To promote the education of individuals
and communities suffering from the effects of war or armed conflict;
-
To foster schemes for the relief of
human suffering occasioned by war or armed conflict;
-
To provide for mechanisms or procedures
in attainment of the above purposes.