When Karim A.A. Khan was sworn in as the chief public prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in June 2021, he famously said the Court should be judged by its act — “the proof of the pudding should be in the eating”. By announcing his decision on May 20 to apply for arrest warrants against both the leadership of Hamas and Israel, Mr. Khan seems to have taken an indelible step towards demanding accountability for the Israel-Hamas war.

In an unprecedented event in the history of the World Court, often ridiculed for its glacial slowness, the prosecutor said there are reasonable grounds to believe that three of Hamas’s most senior leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In an international law career spanning decades, the British litigator of Pakistani origin has crafted a reputation as a gifted orator and a formidable prosecutor. Mr. Khan has partly credited his early interest in international human rights to his experience of doing voluntary work with the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, a persecuted sect of Islam, of which he is a member. Before his stint at the ICC, Mr. Khan was a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and served for both the defence and the prosecution at several international courts. He was involved in investigating war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Lebanon, and also led the UN team investigating crimes committed by the Islamic State terrorist group.

The 54-year-old has faced controversies throughout a career that included stints defending Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia who was convicted of war crimes in Sierra Leone. In 2007, Mr. Khan staged a dramatic walkout from the proceedings against the Liberian dictator following a dispute regarding the resources allotted to the defence. In another contentious case, in 2016, the ICC dropped crimes against humanity charges against his client Kenya’s President William Ruto after what was described as a “troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling”. A key witness in the case had been killed two years ago.

Also read: Debunked accounts of Hamas’s sexual crimes fuel debates over Israel’s war

Although Mr. Khan was not accused of any wrongdoing, he addressed the mistrial in an open letter before the ICC election detailing how he did everything possible to prevent witness intimidation. The prosecutor was originally not on the shortlist for the ICC role but was later included following discreet lobbying by British bureaucrats and Kenyan officials. The Kenyan government’s campaign for Mr. Khan’s candidacy was attributed to his trenchant defence of its Premier.

Pursuing accountability

Mr. Khan seems to be a man on a mission to establish the ICC’s legitimacy in pursuing accountability from heads of state without fear or favour. Responding swiftly to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he sought arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior Kremlin official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova last year over their alleged role in the deportation of Ukrainian children. This was followed by a second round of warrants against top Russian commanders over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Such a relentless pursuit ended up placing Mr. Khan on Russia’s wanted list in an act of retribution.

The decision to seek warrants against Israel’s leadership with staunch opposition from the U.S. and other Western states is a resounding retort to criticism that the Court is biased against African nations where so many of its cases have been focused. While U.S. President Joe Biden has called the move “outrageous”, a dozen Republican senators in April this year, penned a chilling letter “warning” Mr. Khan of consequences after reports began to circulate that such a decision was imminent. But the ICC prosecutor remains undeterred telling CNN that the decision is “not a witch hunt” but in accordance with what is expected from an independent Court.

Well aware of the political ramifications, Mr. Khan has disclosed a list of distinguished experts, two of them former judges, who have backed his claims. While acknowledging that “disinformation has been rife”, the experts have unanimously agreed that the prosecutor’s work has been fair and rigorous. Although it remains to be seen whether the evidence will withstand scrutiny in a courtroom, the English barrister is here to challenge the long-standing scepticism against the efficacy of international law.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks, at a celebration for Jewish American Heritage Month, in the Rose Garden at the White House, in Washington, U.S., May 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

U.S. President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, May 21, 2024, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza in a rejection of criticism from pro-Palestinian protesters.

Also Read: ICC seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Palestine; charges Hamas chief for Oct. 7 attack

“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Mr. Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.

Mr. Biden has faced protests at many of his events around the country from pro-Palestinian advocates who have labeled him “Genocide Joe” for his steadfast support for Israel.

In remarks at the White House event, Mr. Biden stressed his belief that Israel was the victim dating back to the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages.

He said U.S. support for the safety and security of Israelis is “ironclad.”

“We stand with Israel to take out (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas. We want Hamas defeated. We’re working with Israel to make that happen,” he said.

Negotiations have stalled between Israel and Hamas in trying to gain the freedom of sick, elderly and wounded hostages still held by the militants, but Biden vowed not to give up trying to gain their release.

“We’re going to get them home, we’re going to get ’em home, come hell or high water,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden has also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something that he reiterated in his commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday.

Mr. Biden also rejected the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for saying he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief over alleged war crimes

The ICC prosecutor on Monday also said he requested arrest warrants for Hamas chief Sinwar and two other Hamas leaders.

Mr. Biden in recent months has faced growing political pressure from his own party over his handling of the Gaza conflict, as the Palestinian death toll climbed to more than 35,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and Israel’s siege has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

In his statement, the prosecutor said that “Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”

In a statement, Hamas accused the prosecutor of trying to “equate the victim with the executioner.” It said it has the right to resist Israeli occupation, including “armed resistance.” It also criticized the court for seeking the arrests of only two Israeli leaders and said it should seek warrants for other Israeli leaders.

Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. But Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Islamic militant group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.

We will always stand with Israel, says Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the ICC’s chief prosecutor’s “outrageous” attempt to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders. In a sharply worded statement, Mr. Biden said “whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

“We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” he added.

Aftermath of October 7 attack

The latest war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, when militants from Gaza crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage.

The Israeli offensive has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli offensive has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80% of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to U.N. officials.

Speaking of the Israeli actions, Mr. Khan said in a statement that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known…. They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women.”

The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries throughout the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the United Nations of failing to distribute aid. The U.N. says aid workers have repeatedly come under Israeli fire, and also says ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have impeded deliveries.

Of the Hamas actions on Oct. 7, Mr. Khan, who visited the region in December, said that he saw for himself “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.”

Israel is under criticism

After a brief period of international support for its war, Israel has faced increasing criticism as the war has dragged on and the death toll has climbed. Israel is also facing a South African case in the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s top court, accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies those charges.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

The U.N. General Assembly endorsed the ICC, but the court is independent.

Dozens of countries don’t accept the court’s jurisdiction over war crimes, genocide and other crimes. They include Israel, the United States, Russia and China. The ICC becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory. Israel argues it has a functioning court system.

The ICC accepted “The State of Palestine” as a member in 2015, a year after the Palestinians accepted the court’s jurisdiction.

The court’s chief prosecutor at the time announced in 2021 that she was opening an investigation into possible crimes on Palestinian territory. Israel often levies accusations of bias at U.N. and international bodies, and Netanyahu condemned the decision as hypocritical and antisemitic.

In 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump authorized economic and travel sanctions on the ICC prosecutor and another senior prosecutor. The ICC staff were looking into U.S. and allies’ troops for possible war crimes in Afghanistan. Mr. Biden, whose administration has provided crucial military and political support for the Gaza offensive, lifted the sanctions in 2021.

Last year, the court issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Russia responded by issuing its own arrest warrants for Khan and ICC judges.

Other high-profile leaders charged by the court include ousted Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir on allegations including genocide in his country’s Darfur region. Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by rebels shortly after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest on charges linked to the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“A series of attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces in the western region of Darfur raise the possibility of “genocide” against non-Arab ethnic communities,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on May 9.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with allied militias, have been widely accused of ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes in their war with the regular Army, which began in April 2023.

“The war has killed tens of thousands, including up to 15,000 in the West Darfur town of El-Geneina,” according to UN experts.

The area is the focus of the 186-page HRW report “‘The Massalit Will Not Come Home’: Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El-Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan.” It describes “an ethnic cleansing campaign against the ethnic Massalit and other non-Arab populations”.

From late April until early November of last year, the RSF and allied militias “conducted a systematic campaign to remove, including by killing, ethnic Massalit residents”, according to HRW.

The violence, which included atrocities such as mass torture, rape and looting, peaked in mid-June — when thousands were killed within days — and surged again in November.

Local human rights lawyers said they had tracked a pattern where fighters targeted “prominent members of the Massalit community”, including doctors, human rights defenders, local leaders and government officials.

HRW added that the attackers “methodically destroyed critical civilian infrastructure”, primarily in communities consisting of displaced Massalit.

Satellite imagery showed that since June, predominantly Massalit neighbourhoods in El-Geneina have been “systematically dismantled, many with bulldozers, preventing civilians who fled from returning to their homes”, HRW reported.

HRW said the attacks constitute “ethnic cleansing” as they appeared to be aimed at “at least having them permanently leave the region”.

The context of the killings further “raises the possibility that the RSF and their allies have the intent to destroy in whole or in part the Massalit in at least West Darfur, which would indicate that genocide has been and/or is being committed there”, it added.

‘Large-scale atrocities’

HRW called for an investigation into genocidal intent, targeted sanctions on those responsible and urged the United Nations to “widen the existing arms embargo on Darfur to cover all of Sudan”.

The International Criminal Court, currently investigating ethnic-based killings in Darfur, says it has “grounds to believe” that both the Paramilitaries and the Army are committing “Rome Statute crimes”, which include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

And in December, the United States said that Sudan’s rival forces have both committed war crimes in their brutal conflict, accusing the RSF of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

“More than half a million Sudanese have fled the violence from Darfur into Chad, according to the latest UN figures. By late October, 75% of those crossing the border were from El-Geneina,” HRW said.

Around 400 km (250 miles) east of El-Geneina, all eyes are currently on El-Fasher in North Darfur, the only state capital not under RSF control. The United States has warned of a disaster of “epic proportions” if the RSF proceeds with an expected attack, as residents fear the same fate of El-Geneina will befall them.

“As the UN Security Council and governments wake up to the looming disaster in El-Fasher, the large-scale atrocities committed in El-Geneina should be seen as a reminder of the atrocities that could come in the absence of concerted action,” said HRW executive director Tirana Hassan.

Armenian lawmakers attend the session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia in Yerevan, Armenia, on Oct. 3, 2023. The Armenian parliament on Oct. 3 voted to join the International Criminal Court.
| Photo Credit: AP

Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan approved the parliament’s decision to join the International Criminal Court in a move that has further strained the country’s ties with its old ally Russia.

Last week, Armenia’s parliament voted to join the ICC by ratifying the Rome Statute that created the tribunal.

Countries that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute are bound to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was indicted for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, if he sets foot on their soil.

Moscow last month called Yerevan’s decision an “unfriendly step,” and the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Armenia’s ambassador. Armenia later sought to assure Russia that Putin would not be arrested if he entered the country.

Armenian officials have argued the move has nothing to do with Russia and was prompted by what they call Azerbaijan’s aggression against the country.

Lawmakers voted to ratify the Rome Statute by a vote of 60-22. The decision comes into force 60 days after the ratification, according to Armenian lawmakers.

Armenia had started the process of joining the tribunal more than 20 years ago, but in 2004 the Constitutional Court ruled that the Rome Statute contradicted the country’s constitution at the time, putting the process on pause. The constitution has been amended twice since then. In March, the Constitutional Court ruled that the obligations for signatories outlined by the Rome Statute are in line with the existing constitution.

Armenia’s envoy on international legal matters, Yegishe Kirakosyan, said Yerevan decided to resume the process of joining the ICC because of Azerbaijan’s alleged moves against Armenia. Last month, Azerbaijan routed the ethnic Armenian separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and recaptured the enclave.

Last year, a Dutch intelligence agency said it had foiled a sophisticated attempt by a Russian spy using a false Brazilian identity. (File)
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The International Criminal Court said Tuesday that it detected “anomalous activity affecting its information systems” last week and took urgent measures to respond. It didn’t elaborate on what it called a “cybersecurity incident.”

Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said in a written statement that extra “response and security measures are now ongoing” with the assistance of authorities in the Netherlands, where the court is based.

“Looking forward, the Court will be building on existing work presently underway to strengthen its cyber security framework, including accelerating its use of cloud technology,” his statement added.

The court declined to go into any more detail about the incident, but said that as it “continues to analyse and mitigate the impact of this incident, priority is also being given to ensuring that the core work of the Court continues.”

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The ICC has a number of high-profile investigations and preliminary inquiries underway in nations around the world and has in the past been the target of espionage.

Last year, a Dutch intelligence agency said it had foiled a sophisticated attempt by a Russian spy using a false Brazilian identity to work as an intern at the court, which is investigating allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and has issued a war crimes arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

In a written response to a request for comment, the Dutch foreign ministry said: “Any malicious activities that undermine the Court’s cybersecurity or interfere with its ability to fulfill its mandate in a safe and secure manner are of utmost concern to us. The Netherlands will continue to assist the ICC in addressing the incident.”