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ICJ Hears Gruesome Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar Genocide Case

A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
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ICJ Hears Gruesome Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar Genocide Case

A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)

Myanmar soldiers rampaged door-to-door, systematically killing, raping, and burning Rohingya men, women and children, the International Court of Justice heard on Tuesday, on day two of a genocide hearing.

ICJ judges are hearing three weeks of testimony as they weigh accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya in a 2017 crackdown.

Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, a lawyer for The Gambia, laid out harrowing evidence of an alleged attack on a village in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Soldiers decapitated old men, gang raped women and girls, threw infants into rivers.

After killing everyone in the villages, they "systematically" burned the buildings following the so-called "clearance operations", alleged Pasipanodya.

"The totality of this evidence... convincingly show that Myanmar, through its state organs, acted with the intent to destroy the Rohingya," said Pasipanodya.

Myanmar has always maintained the crackdown by its armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead.

The violence forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

Today, 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Lawyers for Myanmar will begin their response on Friday.

A final decision could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favor of The Gambia would heap more political pressure on Myanmar.

The Gambia is taking Myanmar to the ICJ, which rules in disputes between states, alleging breaches of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, under which any state can haul another before the ICJ if it believes genocide is being committed.

Legal experts are watching this case as it could give clues for how the ICJ will handle similar accusations against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.

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World

Iran President: Peace Talks Will Only Succeed Without 'Threats'

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends an expanded format meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State at the Avaza national tourist zone outside Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, 09 October 2026. EPA/SERGEY BOBYLEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends an expanded format meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State at the Avaza national tourist zone outside Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, 09 October 2026. EPA/SERGEY BOBYLEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL
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Iran President: Peace Talks Will Only Succeed Without 'Threats'

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends an expanded format meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State at the Avaza national tourist zone outside Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, 09 October 2026. EPA/SERGEY BOBYLEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends an expanded format meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State at the Avaza national tourist zone outside Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, 09 October 2026. EPA/SERGEY BOBYLEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday at a regional summit in Turkmenistan that peace negotiations will only succeed without "pressure and threats,” with the months-long Middle East war locked in a stalemate.

"Dialogue holds meaning and a chance of success only when based on mutual respect and mutual commitments, and when devoid of pressure and threat," he said during his speech at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit.

President Donald Trump ruled out Thursday attacking Iran before the US midterms on November 3, saying Washington was holding "productive discussions" with Tehran.

"I want to make it clear to everybody that, while Iran is in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily, and while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect...we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections," he wrote.

"We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.

The Atlantic magazine reported on Wednesday that the White House had asked the Pentagon to develop options to strike Iranian targets that could be used before the midterms.

The New York Times said Thursday the plans were being developed despite Trump's "ambivalence."

World

UN: Livestreaming US Execution Would Amount to Torture

The new Department of War logo is seen inside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US. (AFP)
The new Department of War logo is seen inside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US. (AFP)
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UN: Livestreaming US Execution Would Amount to Torture

The new Department of War logo is seen inside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US. (AFP)
The new Department of War logo is seen inside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US. (AFP)

A decision by US officials to livestream the execution of convicted killer Nidal Hasan would amount to torture, the UN said Friday.

US defense officials said US Army psychiatrist Hasan, who shot and killed 13 people at a military base in 2009, would face a firing squad and the execution would be broadcast live, adding that details would come later.

"The livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture," the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a message sent to AFP.

The UN body said it had made similar statements about public executions in Afghanistan and Iran, saying they "constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

Hasan's execution will be the first by the US military since 1961, and the first it has carried out by firing squad since World War II.

According to rights group Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions are known to have been carried out in 2025 -- six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran.

World

Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay Wins the Nobel Peace Prize for Her Work in International Justice

(FILES) Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navi Pillay, speaks during a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navi Pillay, speaks during a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
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Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay Wins the Nobel Peace Prize for Her Work in International Justice

(FILES) Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navi Pillay, speaks during a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
(FILES) Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navi Pillay, speaks during a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Former UN human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a judge on the International Court of Justice, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in Oslo, Norway. 

The South Africa-born Pillay, 85 years old, was recognized for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. 

Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world,” Watne Frydnes said announcing her win. 

Watne Frydnes said the committee had not yet been able to reach Pillay to inform her she had received the peace prize, which is often considered the most prestigious honor on the planet. 

“At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law,” the committee wrote in a news release. 

“An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world.” 

The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo received nominations for 287 candidates for this year’s prize, with just over a quarter of them organizations. Experts say the committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. 

Last year, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.” 

Machado gave Trump her Nobel medal shortly after the United States ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro. But it was largely a symbolic gesture: the Nobel Committee has said the honor itself cannot be transferred. 

Nominations can be made by a select group of people and organizations, including heads of state or politicians serving at a national level, university professors, directors of foreign policy institutes, past Nobel Prize recipients and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee itself. 

Four of this year's Nobels were announced earlier this week. The Nobel for medicine went to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos. The chemistry prize recognized two scientists for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs. 

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the literature prize Thursday for “bold and inventive” works that fuse the classical and the modern and blur the boundaries of poetry and prose. 

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday. 

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization. 

Peace prize marks its 125th anniversary This year marks the 125th anniversary of the peace prize, which so far has gone to 112 individuals and 28 separate institutions since its inception in 1901. The Red Cross has won three times and the U.N. refugee agency twice. 

The prize has gone unawarded on 19 occasions, most of them during the world wars. In 1948, the year Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, no prize was awarded; he had been nominated 12 times and never won. 

In 1939, a Swedish member of parliament nominated Adolf Hitler, then withdrew the nomination, saying it was never meant seriously.