Commenting on recent bids of issuing warrant of arrest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court (ICC), John Bolton, former Assistant to the US President Donald Trump for the National Security Affairs (NSA) wrote in a tweet, “The ICC has proven its fundamental illegitimacy by seeking arrest warrants against Israeli officials in the middle of a war. To aid our ally Israel, the US should take steps both in Congress and in the White House to condemn the ICC and impose sanctions, as I have previously suggested”.
US President Joe Biden has also condemned ICC’s “outrageous” attempt to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A dozen Republican senators have warned the International Criminal Court against issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials over the nation’s conduct during the war in Gaza. In a letter led by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the senators warn ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, citing reports that the court may be considering issuing international arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
While I may not disagree with what John Bolton – a long-time ally of mine has said, can someone ask the US policymakers and their European allies, why did they celebrated when the same notorious ICC issued warrant of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the “crime” of his efforts in protecting the sovereignty of his country? Why did the ICC not utter a word when almost all of the American presidents and their administration were committing human rights violations by brutally attacking foreign nations – such as Libya and Iraq? My answer might sound bitter and even cruel – reality here is – ICC is just a pure evil entity. At the same time, those who cheer or celebrate its notoriety are no better.
Also, may I ask – when the US President and mighty politicians and bureaucrats are lambasting ICC for its latest attempt of issuing arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister – an initiative taken by Karim Khan of Ahmadiyya community – and when policymakers in the United States took drastic punitive measures against ICC prosecutors for their attempt of investigating several Americans – including presidents, why they are playing the role of cheer-leader when ICC had outrageously issued arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin. Doesn’t it evidently expose double-standard and hypocrisy within American ruling elites?
It may be mentioned here that the proposal of issuing warrants against Netanyahu and kingpins of Hamas has been made by ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan – a Pakistani-born British lawyer and member of the Ahmadiyya community. In personal life, Khan is a committed anti-Semite individual. But surprisingly, when he was elected for the position, many in Israel breathed a sigh of relief, labeling him “pragmatic”, although pro-Palestine media accused him of bias towards Israel and of “actively seeking to convict Hamas”.
Meanwhile, an article published in May 2015, exposing scandal inside ICC said, “An enormous scandal has hit the International Criminal Court (ICC). After six months of investigations, eight international media of the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) have produced findings that seriously undermine the ICC’s credibility and image of impartiality. They examined 40,000 confidential documents – diplomatic cables, banking documents and correspondence – obtained by French investigate website Mediapart. These documents throw for the first time a raw light on the political games of States around international justice and the dubious morality of Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was the ICC’s first Prosecutor from 2003 to 2012…”.
In October 2019, Spigel International in a report said, “Current ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda insisted recently that she has had no recent interaction with her predecessor Luis Ocampo, who finds himself mired in scandal”.
In 2019, another article accused ICC judges of serious controversy stating, “For years the Office of the Prosecutor was seen as the problematic organ harming the reputation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Now the ICC judges have triggered multiple controversies on their morality, integrity or independence. The latest incident involved a French judge”.
On September 2, 2020, the United States government, imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and another senior prosecution official, Phakiso Mochochoko. In addition, the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo (Mike Pompeo) announced that the United States had restricted the issuance of visas for certain unnamed individuals “involved in the ICC’s efforts to investigate US personnel”.
According to German broadcast network Deutsche Welle, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is a “controversial figure”.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has clearly identified problems of legality of ICC. It said, “The legal consequence of issuance of the ICC warrant consists in obliging State Parties to the Rome Statute to arrest the individual in respect of whom the warrant was issued. However, in case of individuals enjoying immunity as officials of a State non-party to the Rome Statute which does not cooperate with the ICC, the issuance of warrant results in violation of Article 98 of the Rome Statute and is, therefore, unlawful.
“The attempts to enforce the warrants thus issued shall be unlawful as well. It is important to emphasize that the ICC does not possess a coercive apparatus of its own. Hence, the arrest warrants can only be enforced through measures taken by law enforcement authorities of States. These measures constitute a form of exercise by the executing State of its own jurisdiction. As demonstrated above, the fact that the warrants were issued by the ICC, not by national law enforcement authorities, does not exempt the State from obligation to respect immunities of foreign State officials”.
In conclusion, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, “In its activities, the ICC has deviated from both its original objectives enshrined in the Rome Statute and, in general, from norms and principles of international law. The totality of violations of international law committed by the ICC and its Prosecutor, procedural shortcomings, and extraneous political factors suggest raising the question of at least a persistent and probably irreversible loss of legitimacy and authority by the Court in the eyes of a significant part of the international community”.
Meanwhile, on May 20, 2024, the US Department of State through a press statement said, it has designated a former Bangladeshi official for “significant corruption”.
According to the statement, “The US Department of State announced today the public designation of former General Aziz Ahmed, previously Chief of the Bangladesh Army Staff, due to his involvement in significant corruption. His actions have contributed to the undermining of Bangladesh’s democratic institutions and the public’s faith in public institutions and processes.
“Aziz Ahmed engaged in significant corruption by interfering in public processes while helping his brother evade accountability for criminal activity in Bangladesh. Aziz also worked closely with his brother to ensure the improper awarding of military contracts and accepted bribes in exchange for government appointments for his personal benefit”.
Minutes after issuance of the above statement, a so-called member of Qatari broadcast network Al Jazeera in a post on Facebook claimed that this US sanctions is result of an “investigative report” prepared and aired by the network. The entire topic of Al Jazeera’s so-called investigative report was about Bangladesh buying Israeli spyware. It did not provide any credible information about corruption or money-laundering of General Aziz Ahmed. To my knowledge – Bangladesh authorities did not buy any surveillance equipment or gear from Israel. In this case, Al Jazeera’s claim – which is based on solo statement of an individual, who is accused as jihadist-terrorist and working in favor of Hamas is totally misleading and baseless.
In this case, we can also ask the US authorities, even if Bangladesh authorities have purchased surveillance equipment from Israel – a country which is termed as an ally of the United States, why the US authorities have decided to designate General Aziz Ahmed for this? If the designation has nothing to do with the allegations of buying surveillance equipment from Israel, why is Al Jazeera openly saying – this decision is a result of its “investigative report”? We are fully aware of Al Jazeera’s extreme hostility towards Israel and its allies – including the United States and the European countries.
For being designated by the US Department of State, General Aziz Ahmed should not have any reason to worry if he did not smuggle-out cash from Bangladesh and purchased properties and invested in businesses in the United States. But of course, if he has committed such acts – it is not only him, but a very large number of Bangladeshi citizens should start feeling worried of falling under the matched of American sanctions.
