Comoros contests ICC’s decision to not investigate Israel for 2010 Gaza flotilla

The small Muslim African country of Comoros seeks International Criminal Court investigation into the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.

By i24news

 

The African country of Comoros on Wednesday filed a request for the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking to overturn Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s refusal to launch a probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 in which 10 Turkish activists died. One of the ships in the flotilla was sailing under a Comoros flag.

Mavi Marmara (  )

Mavi Marmara

Last November Bensouda said that there would be no investigation leading to a potential prosecution because the alleged crimes, including the killing of the 10 activists by Israeli commandos, were not of “sufficient gravity.”

“The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed on board the Comorian-registered vessel the Mavi Marmara during the interception of the flotilla,” Bensouda said in a statement.

In a statement quoted by the New York Times, the African Muslim country’s lawyers wrote that “the interests of justice and fairness, which are the core of the ICC’s mandate, strongly militate in favor of the Prosecutor reconsidering her decision.”

Nine Turkish nationals died when Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on a six-ship flotilla seeking to bust Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip on May 31, 2010. A tenth activist later died of his wounds.

The ICC, which was set up in 2002, tries persons accused of the “most serious crimes of international concern,” namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Israel acknowledged the decision while expressing regret that the court’s time had been wasted looking into what it called a “politically-motivated” complaint.

It also noted that the incident had already been “thoroughly examined in detail” by both an Israeli committee and one established by the UN.

 

(With AFP)

View original i24news publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/59380-150129-icc-s-decision-to-not-launch-probe-into-gaza-flotilla-contested