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Turks file complaint in ICC against Israel's
attack on Gaza aid ships
Friday, October 15, 2010 12:16:54 PM,
Associated Press
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Amsterdam:
Turkish lawyers representing pro-Palestinian activists filed a
complaint Thursday with the International Criminal Court (ICC)
accusing Israel of committing war crimes in May when its troops
raided a boat trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
It was unclear whether the prosecutor would agree to pursue the
case or whether the court has jurisdiction. But the filing
reignited an issue that has severely strained Israel’s relations
with Turkey, previously its strongest ally in the Muslim world,
and keeps Israel on the defensive over its much-criticized Gaza
blockade.
A delegation representing some 300 activists and a Turkish
non-government organization submitted the complaint to the
prosecutor’s office in The Hague seeking an investigation into the
May 31 raid.
Nine Turkish citizens, including 19-year-old Furkan Dogan who had
dual US-Turkish nationality, were killed during the melee after
Israeli troops rappelled from helicopters onto the deck of the
ship Mavi Marmara before dawn.
“I have confidence the international court and the prosecutor will
take this case,” said Ahmet Dogan, Furkan’s father.
Israel has said its troops fired live ammunition only after they
were attacked by activists with clubs and metal bars and they felt
their lives were in danger.
Attorney Ugur Sevgili said the victims want Israel investigated
for torture, inhuman treatment, the taking of hostages and other
violations of the Geneva war crimes convention.
“We demanded from the prosecutor to initiate an investigation and
prosecute the perpetrators of this crime,” Sevgili said. “We
didn’t mention any Israeli soldiers or any Israeli politicians. We
just told them that we believe war crimes and crimes against
humanity were committed.”
The court, which began work in 2002 as the world’s first permanent
war crimes tribunal, receives hundreds of complaints every year,
but so far has filed indictments against 17 war crimes suspects —
all of them involved in African conflicts.
Dogan, speaking outside the court’s headquarters, said he thought
politics might get in the way of justice.
“I believe that people who killed my son will be prosecuted.
However, this case also has international and political
dimensions,” he said.
A UN-appointed panel of human rights experts, chaired by a former
judge of the international court, found last month that Israel
violated human rights law during its interception of the flotilla
carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza, which has been under an
Israeli blockade for three years.
Israel rejected the panel’s findings, which it said were biased
and one-sided, and said the UN Human Rights Council that appointed
the panel is heavily weighted in the Palestinians’ favor.
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