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If Hamas Tries Collaborators in Military Field Courts, It Could Face the ICC for War Crimes

(Al Monitor) Entsar Abu Jahal - With each round of escalation in Gaza, Hamas discovers secret agents cooperating with Israel. The Arabic Post website revealed May 18 that the Security and Protection Unit of Hamas in Gaza had arrested 43 people on charges of spying for Israel. News has circulated about the start of trials of the collaborators at a military field court. Mohammed Abd al-Wahhab of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said that "after the advent of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, it has become customary that military field courts are established for the prosecution of police and security members only." Abd al-Wahhab noted, "If the trials before these courts fail to meet the conditions that guarantee the right of defense and the necessary procedures to prove the charges against the defendant, then they would fall under arbitrary trials classified as war crimes." He warned the authorities in Gaza against forming these military field courts, especially since Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). By acceding to the ICC, all alleged war crimes and arbitrary trials occurring in the Palestinian territories are subject to the ICC's jurisdiction, and it could deem the ruling of a field court as a war crime. "We do not want the leaders of the Palestinian factions to be pursued by the ICC," he said.
2021-06-17 00:00:00
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