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Shireen Abu Akleh’s Case Referred to ICC

Palestinians visit the site where veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 18, 2022. (AP)
Palestinians visit the site where veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 18, 2022. (AP)
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Shireen Abu Akleh’s Case Referred to ICC

Palestinians visit the site where veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 18, 2022. (AP)
Palestinians visit the site where veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 18, 2022. (AP)

The family of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh submitted on Tuesday an official complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the killing of the veteran television correspondent.

Head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) Nasser Abu Bakr, member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Jimmy Boumleiha, and Abu Akleh’s brother, Anton, submitted the complaint to the office of the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan.

Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on May 11.

Palestinian eyewitnesses, including her crew, say Israeli troops killed her and that there were no militants in the immediate vicinity or any exchange of fire at the time she was shot.

Israel denies its forces deliberately targeted her, but says an Israeli soldier may have hit her by mistake during an exchange of fire with a militant.

On the filing of the complaint, Abu Bakr said it is a great day that marks a historic event, stating that the PJS, in cooperation with the IFJ, is the first syndicate in the world to submit a complaint to the ICC and its chief prosecutor.

“Time has come to hold killers of journalists accountable under the international law and United Nations resolutions,” he added.

He further noted that since 2000, 48 journalists have been killed by the Israeli forces, stressing that these attacks amount to war crimes that include targeting and destroying dozens of media offices in the Gaza Strip.

The International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) held a press conference on Monday to announce the submission of the new complaint.

The conference brought together lawyers from Bindmans LLP and Doughty Street Chambers, along with representatives from the IFJ, the PJS, and the ICJP, who were asked by the victim’s family to submit the complaint.

They called on the Office of the Prosecutor to meet with the victims and investigate the crimes alleged in their complaints.

The complaint included many documents, forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony, in addition to the report by the Palestinian Public Prosecution, the analysis of the killing projectile and a summary of other probes.

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Arab World

Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.