DOCSLIB.ORG

The Venture of the Comoros Referral at the Preliminary Examination Stage

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Venture of the Comoros Referral at the Preliminary Examination Stage Carsten Stahn (editors) Morten Bergsmo and Publication Series No. 32 (2018): Editors of this volume: Quality Control in Preliminary Examination: Volume 1 Morten Bergsmo is Director of the Cen- tre for International Law Research and Policy Morten Bergsmo and Carsten Stahn (editors) (CILRAP). This is the fi rst of two volumes entitled Quality Control in Preliminary Examination. They Carsten Stahn is Professor of International form part of a wider research project led by the Centre for International Law Re- Criminal Law and Global Justice at Leiden search and Policy (CILRAP) on how we ensure the highest quality and cost-effi ciency Law School, and Programme Director of the during the more fact-intensive phases of work on core international crimes. The Grotius Centre for International Legal Stud- 2013 volume Quality Control in Fact-Finding considers fact-fi nding outside the criminal ies in The Hague. justice system. An upcoming volume concerns quality control in criminal investiga- The Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher tions. The present volume deals with ‘preliminary examination’, the phase when crim- 1 Volume in Preliminary Examination: Quality Control (TOAEP) furthers the objective of excellence inal justice seeks to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed to full in research, scholarship and education by pub- criminal investigation. The book does not specifi cally recommend that prosecutorial lishing worldwide in print and through the discretion in this phase should be further regulated, but that its exercise should be Internet. As a non-profi t publisher, it is fi rmly committed to open access publishing. more vigilantly assessed. It promotes an awareness and culture of quality control, including freedom and motivation to challenge the quality of work. TOAEP is named after late Professor Torkel Opsahl (1931–1993), a leading interna- Volumes 1 and 2 are organized in fi ve parts. The present volume covers ‘The Prac- tional and constitutional law expert in Europe tice of Preliminary Examination: Realities and Constraints’ and ‘Case Studies or Situa- in the period from the mid-1960s until his tion Analysis’, with chapters by the editors, Andrew T. Cayley, Runar Torgersen, Frank- untimely passing in 1993. He was one of the lin D. Rosenblatt, Abraham Joseph, Matthias Neuner, Matilde E. Gawronski, Amitis early pillars of the human rights systems of the Khojasteh, Marina Aksenova, Christian M. De Vos, Benson Chinedu Olugbuo, Iryna United Nations and the Council of Europe. Marchuk, Thomas Obel Hansen, Rachel Kerr, Sharon Weill, Nino Tsereteli and Ali Emrah Bozbayindir, in that order, and with forewords by LIU Daqun and Martin Sørby. ISBNs: 978-82-8348-106-8 (print) and 978-82-8348-107-5 (e-book). Quality Control in Preliminary Examination: Above: Painting of Professor Torkel Opsahl by Front cover: Pasquale Trento, with other ma- the Italian artist Roberto Caruso. Volume 1 sons, mounting a sculpture in Florence. Masons have a proud tradition of self-regulation and qual- Back cover: Section of the original lower-fl oor Morten Bergsmo and Carsten Stahn (editors) ity control in Florence. The guild of master stone- of the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in masons and wood-carvers – Arte dei Maestri di Rome which honours the memory of two broth- Pietra e Legname – was already listed in 1236 ers and physicians for the poor in Roman Syria. as one of the Intermediate Guilds. Ensuring rigor- Its mosaics and other stonework infl uenced the ous quality control through strict supervision of Florentine guild of masons referred to in the front- the workshops, the guild not only existed for more page caption, as its craftsmen and sponsors cre- than 500 years (until 1770, when several of its ated a culture of excellence through competition functions were assigned to the Florentine cham- and exacting quality control. ber of commerce), but it has contributed to the Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher outstanding quality of contemporary masonry in Photograph: © CILRAP 2018. E-mail: [email protected] Florence. URL: www.toaep.org Dust jacket designed by LIAO Wan-Ting. Photograph: © CILRAP 2017. PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/b07a98/ E-Offprint: Ali Emrah Bozbayındır, “The Venture of the Comoros Referral at the Preliminary Examination Stage”, in Morten Bergsmo and Carsten Stahn (editors), Quality Con- trol in Preliminary Examination: Volume 1, Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, Brussels, 2018 (ISBNs: 978-82-8348-123-5 (print) and 978-82-8348-124-2 (e- book)). This publication was first published on 6 September 2018. TOAEP publica- tions may be openly accessed and downloaded through the web site www.toaep.org which uses Persistent URLs (PURLs) for all publications it makes available. These PURLs will not be changed and can thus be cited. Printed copies may be ordered through online distributors such as www.amazon.co.uk. This e-offprint is also available in the Legal Tools Database under PURL http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/b07a98/. It is noteworthy that the e-book versions of Quality Control in Preliminary Examination: Volumes 1 and 2 contain more than 1,000 hyperlinks to legal sources in the Database. This amounts to a thematic knowledge-base that is made freely available as an added service to readers. © Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2018. All rights are reserved. Front cover: Pasquale Trento, with other masons, mounting a sculpture in Florence. Masons have a proud tradition of self-regulation and quality control in Florence. The guild of master stonemasons and wood-carvers – Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname – was already listed in 1236 as one of the Intermediate Guilds. Ensuring rigorous quality control through strict su- pervision of the workshops, the guild not only existed for more than 500 years (until 1770, when several of its functions were assigned to the Florentine chamber of commerce), but it has contributed to the outstanding quality of contemporary masonry in Florence. Photograph: © CILRAP 2017. Back cover: Section of the original lower-floor of the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome which honours the memory of two brothers and physicians for the poor in Roman Syria. Its mosaics and other stonework influenced the Florentine guild of masons referred to in the frontpage caption, as its craftsmen and sponsors created a culture of excellence through competition and exacting quality control. Photograph: © CILRAP 2018. PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/b07a98/ 17 ______ 17. The Venture of the Comoros Referral at the Preliminary Examination Stage Ali Emrah Bozbayındır 17.1. Introduction As of September 2017, the situation on Registered Vessels of the Union of the Comoros, the Hellenic Republic and the United Kingdom of Cambo- dia (hereinafter the ‘Gaza flotilla situation’) was still on the list of ongo- ing preliminary examinations of the Office of the Prosecutor (hereinafter the ‘OTP’). The Gaza flotilla situation goes back to a referral by the Un- ion of the Comoros, which was submitted to the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) on 14 May 2013 “with respect to the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip”.1 The referral proved both legally and politically significant. The Comoros referral is the first referral of a State concerning the alleged crimes committed by anoth- er State that is also a non-State Party of the Rome Statute of the ICC.2 Moreover, the referral by Comoros has a symbolic significance – especial- Ali Emrah Bozbayındır is Assistant Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the Faculty of Law of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. He holds an LL.B. degree from Selcuk University (Turkey), and LL.M. and Dr. jur. degrees from the Faculty of Law of the University of Cologne (Germany). He has been a visiting scholar at Institute of Criminology of the University of Cambridge and Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and International Criminal Law, Freiburg i. Br. Germany. He has published in Turkish, Ital- ian, English and German. His publications in English include Turkey and the International Criminal Court: A Substantive Criminal Law Analysis in the Context of the Principle of Complementarity, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, 2013; The Advent of Preventive Criminal Law: An Erosion of the Traditional Criminal Law?, Criminal Law Forum, 2018, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 25-62. 1 Union of the Comoros, “Referral of the Union of Comoros with respect to the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for Gaza Strip”, 14 May 2013, ICC-01/13-1-Anx1 (http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/d5e455/). 2 See Antonio Marchesi and Eleni Chaitidou, “Article 14: Referral of a situation by a State Party”, in Otto Triffterer and Kai Ambos (eds.), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A Commentary, 3rd edition, C.H. Beck, Hart, Nomos, Munich, 2016, margin no. 17; Rod Rastan, “Jurisdiction”, in Carsten Stahn (ed.), The Law and Practice of the Interna- tional Criminal Court, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015, pp. 141, 165. Publication Series No. 32 (2018) – page 555 PURL: http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/b07a98/ Quality Control in Preliminary Examination: Volume 1 ly if one considers the Court’s activities in its first decade – namely, it is a situation where an African State is referring a situation involving a non- African State to the ICC, and for this reason and others, such as due to the fact the situation in question involves a powerful Western State vis-à-vis a small African State, a commentator has dubbed the Comoros Referral as the “Nicaragua Moment for the ICC”.3 Following her receipt of the referral, the Prosecutor of the ICC has commenced a preliminary examination4 into the Gaza flotilla situation; and in her analysis dated 6 November 2014, she concluded that there was “a reasonable basis to believe that the killing of passengers of the Mavi Marmara amounted to the war crime of wilful killing pursuant to Article 8 (2) (a) (i) of the Statute”.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress
    Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress December 2, 2010 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R41514 Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress Summary This report and its appendixes provide background information on Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, and U.S. policy towards it. It also includes information and analysis on (1) the threats Hamas currently poses to U.S. interests, (2) how Hamas compares with other Middle East terrorist groups, (3) Hamas’s ideology and policies (both generally and on discrete issues), (4) its leadership and organization, and (5) its sources of assistance. Finally, the report raises and discusses various legislative and oversight options related to foreign aid strategies, financial sanctions, and regional and international political approaches. In evaluating these options, Congress can assess how Hamas has emerged and adapted over time, and also scrutinize the track record of U.S., Israeli, and international policy to counter Hamas. Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist military and sociopolitical movement that grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood. The United States, Israel, the European Union, and Canada consider Hamas a terrorist organization because of (1) its violent resistance to what it deems Israeli occupation of historic Palestine (constituting present-day Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip), and (2) its rejection of the off-and-on peace process involving Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since the early 1990s. Since Hamas’s inception in 1987, it has maintained its primary base of political support and its military command in the Gaza Strip—a territory it has controlled since June 2007—while also having a significant presence in the West Bank.
    [Show full text]
  • The Raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 Opinion on International Law By
    EJDM Europäische Vereinigung von Juristinnen und Juristen für Demokratie und Menschenrechte in der Welt e.V. ELDH European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights EJDH Asociacion Europea de los Juristas por la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos en el Mundo EJDH Association Européenne des Juristes pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme dans le Monde EGDU Associazione Europea delle Giuriste e dei Giuristi per la Democrazia e i Diritti dell’Uomo nel Mondo Professor Bill Bowring, President (London) Professeure Monique CHEMILLIER- GENDREAU, Présidente d’honneur (Paris) Thomas SCHMIDT (Rechtsanwalt) Secretary General (Duesseldorf) The raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 Opinion on international law by Prof. em. Dr. Norman Paech University of Hamburg I. The facts The raid by the Israeli army on the Free Gaza Flotilla in the early morning of 31 May 2010 aroused worldwide indignation. In the raid, nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara, sailing under the Turkish flag, died, and at least forty-five were injured, some of them seriously. While a considerable body of opinion sees this as a serious breach of international law, and even speaks of war crimes, the Israeli army regards itself as fully justified, and following an internal review has admitted only that there were some slips in the planning and execution of the seizure of the ships1. Before the events can be further analysed with regard to international law, it is first necessary to set out the sequence in which they occurred, which is constantly being described differently. Only six of the original eight ships gathered on 30 May in international waters, far south of the island of Cyprus and east of Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • 192 Comments
    GAZA AID CONVOY June 03, 2010 chedet.co.cc 1. The Israelis claim that the activists on the M.V. Mavi Marmara had attacked their commandos with guns, iron rods, scissors and pointed sticks. 2. The last time Free Gaza sent a small boat to take relief supplies to Gaza, Israeli commandos boarded it and towed it to Ashdod. 3. The activists must know that the same thing might happen to them. But it is ridiculous to suggest that the civilian activists planned to fight against the well-armed and well-trained Israelis. 4. Claiming that the activists attacked the commandos first is equally ridiculous. The forces ranged against them were powerful and enormous, capable of sinking their boats. The Israelis have been known to ram supply boats with their armoured naval vessels. What is clear is that the Israeli's were the ones to attack first by dropping their commandos from the helicopter. 5. The Israelis claim that the activists seized the pistols belonging to the commandos. Again this is ridiculous. These are trained soldiers, wearing protective armour and most certainly skilled in unarmed combat. It is most unlikely that raw activists can disarm and seize the guns of the black-suited commandos. 6. In any case, shooting with live bullets against a group of civilians probably armed with wooden sticks is unjustified. The hazy pictures shown by the Israel propagandist of rods being used may not be iron rods at all. They could be wooden sticks as the pictures are dark silhouettes which cannot be identified as activists or soldiers.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's Blockade of Gaza, the Mavi Marmara Incident, and Its Aftermath
    Israel’s Blockade of Gaza, the Mavi Marmara Incident, and Its Aftermath Carol Migdalovitz Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs June 23, 2010 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R41275 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Israel’s Blockade of Gaza, the Mavi Marmara Incident, and Its Aftermath Summary Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but retained control of its borders. Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections and forcibly seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel imposed a tighter blockade of Gaza in response to Hamas’s takeover and tightened the flow of goods and materials into Gaza after its military offensive against Hamas from December 2008 to January 2009. That offensive destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, but Israel has obstructed the delivery of rebuilding materials that it said could also be used to manufacture weapons and for other military purposes. Israel, the U.N., and international non-governmental organizations differ about the severity of the blockade’s effects on the humanitarian situation of Palestinian residents of Gaza. Nonetheless, it is clear that the territory’s economy and people are suffering. In recent years, humanitarian aid groups have sent supply ships and activists to Gaza. However, Israel directs them to its port of Ashdod for inspection before delivery to Gaza. In May 2010, the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement and the pro-Hamas Turkish Humanitarian Relief Fund organized a six-ship flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to break Israel’s blockade of the territory.
    [Show full text]
  • Perché Questo Ciclo Di Incontri E Di Seminari
    Viva Palestina Italia Perché questo ciclo di incontri e di seminari La pubblicazione del saggio di Ghada Karmi introduce nel discorso pubblico italiano il tema della one-state solution, ed è quindi necessario e doveroso promuoverne la conoscenza e aprire un dibattito, in particolare in questo momento in cui si sta sviluppando da parte sionista una manovra propagandistica senza precedenti. Due esempi tra tutti, la manifestazione del 7 ottobre a Roma Per la verità, per Israele1 e la presenza in Piemonte dal 7 al 12 novembre di Amos Oz2. Ma c'è dell'altro, dalla guerra in Libano nel 2006, all'operazione Piombo Fuso, all'attacco omicida contro la Mavi Marmara, il movimento di solidarietà internazionale con la resistenza palestinese, o almeno parte di esso, sta cercando nuove strade per agire con efficacia contro il sionismo. L' appello palestinese al boicottaggio, disinvestimento e sanzioni (BDS) del 9 luglio 2005, preceduto nel 2004 da quello per il boicottaggio accademico e culturale di Israele, i convogli sempre più numerosi, la flottiglia del maggio 2010, che ha dato un seguito alla felice intuizione del Free Gaza Movement, e quelle che si preannunciano, sono parte di una stessa strategia, una strategia di boicottaggio diretto e indiretto, che mira a ottenere risultati concreti a breve-medio termine. Non si può più permettere al sionismo di continuare a fare tutto quello che gli è stato permesso di fare, a partire dalla pulizia etnica che continua, e di godere della completa immunità e impunità per il suo agire barbaro e criminale, sia da parte delle potenze occidentali sia da parte dei cosiddetti paesi arabi “moderati”.
    [Show full text]
  • Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress
    Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress Jim Zanotti Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs December 2, 2010 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R41514 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Hamas: Background and Issues for Congress Summary This report and its appendixes provide background information on Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, and U.S. policy towards it. It also includes information and analysis on (1) the threats Hamas currently poses to U.S. interests, (2) how Hamas compares with other Middle East terrorist groups, (3) Hamas’s ideology and policies (both generally and on discrete issues), (4) its leadership and organization, and (5) its sources of assistance. Finally, the report raises and discusses various legislative and oversight options related to foreign aid strategies, financial sanctions, and regional and international political approaches. In evaluating these options, Congress can assess how Hamas has emerged and adapted over time, and also scrutinize the track record of U.S., Israeli, and international policy to counter Hamas. Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist military and sociopolitical movement that grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood. The United States, Israel, the European Union, and Canada consider Hamas a terrorist organization because of (1) its violent resistance to what it deems Israeli occupation of historic Palestine (constituting present-day Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip), and (2) its rejection of the off-and-on peace process involving Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since the early 1990s. Since Hamas’s inception in 1987, it has maintained its primary base of political support and its military command in the Gaza Strip—a territory it has controlled since June 2007—while also having a significant presence in the West Bank.
    [Show full text]
  • And on Youtube
    Global Media Journal Fall 2012 - GP1 Mazumdar 1 Graduate Paper #1 Shifting Blame on the High Seas … and on YouTube: The Narrative Failure of Israel’s Flotilla Cyber-Diplomacy B. Theo Mazumdar, (Ph.D. Candidate) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism University of Southern California Keywords cyber-diplomacy, public diplomacy, narrative paradigm, social media, YouTube, Web 2.0, strategic communication Abstract This paper uses Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm to examine Israel’s efforts to shape the narrative of the violent confrontation and loss of life of activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, part of the Gaza “Freedom Flotilla,” in May 2010. In an exploratory application of Fisher’s narrative paradigm to cyber-diplomacy, this research argues that Israel could not shift blame largely because its concerted and sustained YouTube campaign failed the tests of narrative logic: narrative probability and narrative fidelity. Viewed through the lens of narrative logic, Israel’s cyber-diplomacy rhetoric failed in three main claims: that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza; that acting against the Flotilla was a “last resort”; and that the Mavi Marmara was filled with terrorists or “terrorist sympathizers”. As a result, Israel’s narrative failure may have exacerbated an already damaging public relations crisis, adversely affecting the public support of even its staunchest ally, the Unites States. This paper demonstrates the value of the narrative paradigm as an effective rhetorical frame for foreign policy crises and public/cyber diplomacy and as an alternative to foreign policy evaluation based solely on rational logic. Introduction A nation-state will sometimes undertake a politically hazardous act of foreign policy before it can deploy a public relations effort to accompany or build support for that decision.
    [Show full text]
  • The U.S.-Turkey-Israel Triangle
    ANALYSIS PAPER Number 34, October 2014 THE U.S.-TURKEY-ISRAEL TRIANGLE Dan Arbell The Brookings Institution is a private non-profit organization. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides to any supporter is in its absolute commitment to quality, independence and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect this commitment and the analysis and recommendations are not determined by any donation. Copyright © 2014 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 www.brookings.edu Acknowledgements I would like to thank Haim and Cheryl Saban for their support of this re- search. I also wish to thank Tamara Cofman Wittes for her encouragement and interest in this subject, Dan Byman for shepherding this process and for his continuous sound advice and feedback, and Stephanie Dahle for her ef- forts to move this manuscript through the publication process. Thank you to Martin Indyk for his guidance, Dan Granot and Clara Schein- mann for their assistance, and a special thanks to Michael Oren, a mentor and friend, for his strong support. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my wife Sarit; without her love and support, this project would not have been possible. The U.S.-Turkey-Israel Triangle The Center for Middle East Policy at BROOKINGS ii About the Author Dan Arbell is a nonresident senior fellow with Israel’s negotiating team with Syria (1993-1996), the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, and later as deputy chief of mission at the Israeli and a scholar-in-residence with the department of Embassy in Tokyo, Japan (2001-2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Lawsuit
    Case 2:15-cv-08130 Document 1 Filed 10/16/15 Page 1 of 31 Page ID #:1 1 Cindy Pánuco, Esq. [S.B. #266921] Brian Olney, Esq. [S.B. # 298089] 2 HADSELL STORMER & RENICK LLP 128 N. Fair Oaks Avenue 3 Pasadena, California 91103 4 Telephone: (626) 585-9600 Facsimile: (626) 577-7079 5 Emails: [email protected] [email protected] 6 7 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 AHMET DOĞAN, individually and on Case No.: behalf of his deceased son FURKAN 11 COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES: DOĞAN; and HIKMET DOĞAN, 12 individually and on behalf of her 1. Extrajudicial Killing in Violation of 13 deceased son, FURKAN DOĞAN, Torture Victim Protection Act, by Ahmet Doğan 14 2. Extrajudicial Killing in Violation of Plaintiffs, Torture Victim Protection Act, by 15 Hikmet Doğan vs. 3. Torture In Violation of Torture 16 Victim Protection Act, by Ahmet Doğan and Hikmet Doğan on Behalf 17 EHUD BARAK, of Furkan Doğan as his Successors in Interest 18 Defendant. 4. Extrajudicial Killing in Violation of 19 Alien Tort Claims Act, by Ahmet Doğan 20 5. Extrajudicial Killing in Violation of Alien Tort Claims Act, by Hikmet 21 Doğan 6. Acts of International Terrorism in 22 Violation of Anti-Terrorism Act, by Ahmet Doğan and Hikmet Doğan on 23 Behalf of Furkan Doğan as his Successors in Interest 24 7. Acts of International Terrorism in Violation of Anti-Terrorism Act, by 25 Ahmet Doğan 26 8. Acts Of International Terrorism In Violation Of Anti-Terrorism Act, by 27 Hikmet Doğan 28 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES Case 2:15-cv-08130 Document 1 Filed 10/16/15 Page 2 of 31 Page ID #:2 1 INTRODUCTION 2 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel, Blockade of Gaza and the Flotilla Incident
    Published on How does law protect in war? - Online casebook (https://casebook.icrc.org) Home > Israel, Blockade of Gaza and the Flotilla Incident Israel, Blockade of Gaza and the Flotilla Incident [N.B. The Flotilla Incident has also been the object of a decision on 6 November 2014 by the Prosecutor of the ICC not to proceed with an investigation (see http://www.icc- cpi.int/iccdocs/otp/OTP-COM-Article_53(1)-Report-06Nov2014Eng.pdf [1]), a decision by an ICC Pre-Trial Chamber requesting her to review her decision ( https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/record.aspx?docNo=ICC-01/13-34 [2]) and a final decision of the Prosecutor of 29 November 2017 not to do so (see https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/record.aspx?docNo=ICC-01/13-57 [3]).] N.B. As per the disclaimer [4], neither the ICRC nor the authors can be identified with the opinions expressed in the Cases and Documents. Some cases even come to solutions that clearly violate IHL. They are nevertheless worthy of discussion, if only to raise a challenge to display more humanity in armed conflicts. Similarly, in some of the texts used in the case studies, the facts may not always be proven; nevertheless, they have been selected because they highlight interesting IHL issues and are thus published for didactic purposes. A. Gaza flotilla raid [Source : Courrier International, "L’attaque de la flottille de Gaza", 9 June 2010, available at http://www.courrierinternational.com] [5] On 31 May 2010 Israeli soldiers boarded a flotilla of six ships manned by 700 pro- Palestinian militants […] from over 50 countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla Steven G
    TURKEY, THE GLOBAL MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND THE GAZA FLOTILLA Steven G. Merley Abstract: This report presents the results of an investigation into the role played by the Global Muslim Brotherhood and its Turkish allies in the May 2010 Gaza flotilla which involved a violent altercation between passengers on one of the ships and Israeli naval forces. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs המרכז הירושלמי לענייני ציבור ומדינה )ע"ר( © 2011 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 13 Tel Hai Street, Jerusalem, Israel Tel. 972-2-561-9281, Fax. 972-2-561-9112 Email: [email protected] www.jcpa.org ISBN 978-965-218-095-7 Production Director: Adam Shay Editor: Sharon Blass Graphic Design: www.ramijaki.co.il • Rami & Jacky / Elisheva Cohen Cover Photo: The Turkish ship Mavi Marmara taking part in the Gaza flotilla (AFP). Photos: AP, AFP Cihan News Agency Note: All quotations used in this report were either cited verbatim from their sources or translated where necessary. The misspellings and other linguistic errors that appear in these references are the result of either translations by non-native English speakers or errors in the source documents. CONTENTS GLOSSARY 5 CONCLUSIONS 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 13 Background 13 Turkish/MB Network 15 Demonizing Israel 17 Conferences 17 Demonstrations 17 Press Conferences 18 Legal Actions 18 Aid Campaigns 18 Support of the Turkish Government 19 Relationship to Hamas 19 Pre-Flotilla Support 20 Post-Flotilla Support 21 Statements 21 Role of Kuwait 22 IUMS Meeting 23 Chart 1: Turkish/MB Network 24 THE REPORT 25 Introduction
    [Show full text]
  • Legal Scholars Weigh in on Gaza Blockade, Flotilla Deaths Page 1 of 4
    Legal Scholars Weigh in on Gaza Blockade, Flotilla Deaths Page 1 of 4 Legal Scholars Weigh in on Gaza Blockade, Flotilla Deaths Erik Schechter June 28, 2010 Nearly a month after its deadly naval raid on an aid flotilla, Israel refuses to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Still, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has loosened restrictions on the types of goods that may enter the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. Likewise, it has set up a commission to examine the events of May 30-31. None of this, however, has squelched criticism of the Gaza blockade and the flotilla incident. To recap, in late May, the Free Gaza Movement, a pro- Palestinian solidarity group, arranged for six ships MV Mavi Marmara, May 22, 2010 by Free Gaza Movement (CC) loaded with humanitarian aid to breach the Israeli naval blockade. Anticipating arrival of this flotilla, the Israeli navy sailed out to the boats and warned them away from Gaza coastline, offering instead to have the cargo delivered to the territory via Israeli land terminals. However, the flotilla activists rejected the offer. When the Free Gaza crew made it clear that they intended to run the blockade, Israeli navy commandos boarded the boats at night, in international waters, and subdued the passengers. This occurred, for the most part, without incident. However, on one ship, the MV Mavi Marmara, a large contingent of baton-wielding Turkish Islamist activists clashed with commandos, resulting in the deaths of nine passengers. This bloody episode provoked a wave of outrage—and not just in the Muslim world.
    [Show full text]