Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Al-Maliki handed today the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor Karim Khan the official results of the Palestinian government’s investigation into Israel’s murder of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last month in Jenin.
Al-Maliki urged the ICC Prosecutor to bring the criminals responsible for this crime and other crimes targeting civilians, children, women, journalists, doctors and other protected groups, to international justice in order to achieve justice.
During a meeting in The Hague with the ICC Public Prosecutor, Al-Maliki stressed that the Palestinian leadership and people are following with interest what the ICC and its various organs are doing, and that we will not allow any party to ignore the Palestinian right, especially in light of the international community’s double standards policy and its selectivity in international law.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates questioned the delay in the Court’s investigations into the Palestinian issue, calling on the ICC Public Prosecutor to make the Palestinian issue a priority in their investigations to avoid any delays in achieving justice because delayed justice means more crimes and more Palestinian victims.
He explained, “Israel commits crimes in broad daylight, brags about its crimes, passes laws that promote war crimes and crimes against humanity, adopts budgets and sets policies, all in public, and kills in front of the cameras.”
“What is the ICC Public Prosecutor waiting for in order to go ahead with a transparent and tangible investigation?,” the Foreign Minister questioned.
Al-Maliki stressed the need for the Public Prosecutor to take concrete steps to prove the Court’s seriousness in dealing with the crimes of the Israeli occupation in Palestine, due to the gravity, size and nature of these crimes.
In turn, the Prosecutor stressed the independent role of the ICC in achieving justice and accountability for the most serious crimes, and that Palestine is one of the cases that the Court is looking at in the investigation phase, and that failure is not an option.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)