Journalists are the voice of the conscience, the oppressed, and the weak. In the line of their work, they always have to face the wrath of powerful wrongdoers whom they expose. These wrongdoers are often not just individuals but rather organizations or even governments and their wrath may translate into intimidation, harassment, physical assault, or even killing. According to the UNESCO freedom of expression report, 86 journalists were killed in 2022. Shireen Abu Akleh of Al Jazeera was one of them. She was shot dead by the Israeli military on May 11, 2022, while she was covering an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied west bank. Israeli forces also attacked her funeral and beat the coffin bearers so they almost dropped the coffin.
Israel said initially that Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian gunfire. However, later in September 2022, it admitted that she might have been accidentally killed by an Israeli bullet during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen.
Although Shireen Abu Akleh was a US citizen, the USA did not condemn Israel or ask for the prosecution of the individuals responsible for her killing. The US government also rejected calls by Shireen Abu Akleh’s family and Al Jazeera for an independent investigation into the matter and said that Israel is capable enough to investigate misconduct by its troops.
On the part of Israel, it declared that it will not allow any external investigation and will never launch a criminal investigation into the matter. Israel’s then-prime minister Yair Lapid proclaimed, “No one will interrogate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals of combat, certainly not the Al Jazeera Network,”
So, where to seek justice? It’s the International Criminal Court (ICC) where Al Jazeera has finally gone to seek justice. On December 6, 2022, it submitted a request to the ICC to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for killing Shireen Abu Akleh. It can now be hoped that at last justice is going to be served – it’s delayed but not denied.
The international criminal court (ICC) was established by 120 countries in 1998. It started functioning in 2002. The objective of the ICC is to put an end to the impunity of individuals committing grievous crimes like murder, torture, rape, apartheid, genocide, etc. It can investigate, prosecute, and try individuals for those crimes even if they are acting as a head of state or government.
Let’s look into a few more facts about ICC. ICC doesn’t have its police force to apprehend criminals or prisons for convicted criminals. It has to depend on state cooperation on these matters. After passing judgments the convicted criminals are sent to designated prisons offered by member countries to serve their sentence. Arresting suspected criminals wanted by ICC and delivering them to the court for trials is also done by the countries concerned. So, if the ICC investigation finds that Shireen Abu Akleh was deliberately killed by IDF soldiers as established by Al Jazeera’s investigation, it will have to rely on Israel to hand over the suspected soldiers for trial at ICC. Also, the ICC investigation cannot go on without the cooperation of Israel. And we have already seen Israel’s stand on this matter.
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This article was published in the Daily Sun on January 25, 2023. Please read the full article here or here.