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The Palestine/US journalist Shireen Abu Akleh aka 'Jazeerian' shot
through the head and slaughtered by an Israeli sniper.
France 24
6 Dec 2022
<<Al Jazeera takes journalist's 'brutal' killing to ICC
The Hague (AFP) - Al Jazeera submitted the case of slain
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the International Criminal Court on
Tuesday, saying the veteran reporter was deliberately killed by Israeli
forces.
The Qatar-based television channel said it had <unearthed new
evidence> on the <brutal> death of the Palestinian-American, shot while
covering an Israel army raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on May
11. Any person or group can file a complaint to the ICC prosecutor for
investigation, but the Hague-based court is not obliged to take them on.
<My family still doesn't know who fired that deadly bullet and who was
in the chain of command that killed my aunt,> her niece Lina Abu Akleh
told a press conference in The Hague. <The evidence is overwhelmingly
clear, we expect the ICC to take action,> she said, adding that they had
asked for a meeting with prosecutor Karim Khan. An AFP journalist saw a
lawyer repre-senting Al Jazeera's case entering the ICC's headquarters
to hand over their submission. The ICC, which was set up in 2002 as a
war crimes court of last resort, last year launched a probe in the
Pales-tinian territories. But Israel is not an ICC member and disputes
the court's jurisdiction. Israel said it would not cooperate with any
external probe into Abu Akleh's death. <No one will investigate IDF (Israeli
military) soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare,
certainly not Al Jazeera,> Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a
statement. The ICC prosecutor's office confirmed that it <has received
the communication from Al Jazeera Media Network> but that it did not
comment on individual submissions. <Any individual or group may send
information on alleged crimes to the ICC Prosecutor, who is duty bound
to protect the confidentiality of the information received,> his office
said in a statement to AFP.
'Complete cover-up'
The veteran reporter, who was a Christian, was wearing a
bulletproof vest marked <Press> and a helmet when she was shot in the
head in the Jenin refugee camp, a historic flashpoint in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli army conceded on September 5
that one of its soldiers had likely shot Abu Akleh after mistaking her
for a militant. Al Jazeera said it had submitted new evidence and video
footage which showed Israeli forces had <directly fired> at the
journalist and her colleagues. <The evidence shows that this deli-berate
killing was part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera,>
it said in a statement. The new evidence showed there was no firing in
the area except by Israeli soldiers and that jour-nalists were in <full
view> and walking slowly down an empty road with <distinctive> media
vests, said the channel. <The claim by the Israeli authorities that
Shireen was killed by mistake in an exchange of fire is completely
unfounded,> it added. Al Jazeera's lawyer Rodney Dixon accused Israel of
a <complete cover-up>. He alleged that her killing was part of a <systematic
and widespread campaign> against Al Jazeera by Israel that also included
the bom-bing of a Gaza building housing Al Jazeera's office and the
bureau of the US news agency the Associated Press last year. <There's a
clear attempt to shut Al Jazeera down and silence it,> Dixon told the
press conference. <We are hopeful that there will now be justice for
Shireen.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20221206-al-jazeera-takes-journalist-s-brutal-killing-to-icc
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