Poll shows most Arabs want to see their presidents stand before international tribunals

August 13, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – A majority of Arabs favor that their presidents be tried before international courts, according to a poll conducted by an Arabic news channel.

Around 52% of people responding to the poll on the Al-Jazeera TV website said that they support having their leaders face international justice while 48% voiced opposition to the idea.

The poll was conducted in conjunction with a Tuesday talk show that discussed the subject.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges in mid-July to issue arrest warrants for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.

The ‘Opposite Direction’ show, which normally draws millions of Arab viewers, hosted Dr. Hadi Shalluf who was the defense counsel for Darfur at the ICC and Dr. Ibrahim Al-Daraji, a Syrian professor in International law.

Al-Dariji said he has no objection to prosecuting Arab leaders but said that the ICC is used by the US to “punish those presidents who oppose its policies”.

“The US used the ICC to direct political accusations against Sudan” Al-Daraji said. He further said that The Hague base court should also investigate crimes in Iraq and the Palestinian territories to be fair.

The US is not a party to the ICC and has remained hostile to it. Washington had threatened to veto resolution 1593 referring Darfur case to the ICC adopted in March 2005 but eventually bent down to domestic and international pressure and abstained from voting.

But Shalluf responded by saying that unlike the Arab leaders US and Israeli governments do not engage in human right abuses of their own citizens.

“Have we ever seen that in Israel the government violating the rights of their citizens? It is the Arab governments which are abusive and led by criminals” Shalluf said.

“The Arab rulers have no legal legitimacy so they commit all these criminal acts. The Arab people are submissive and did not resist these regimes so their only way out is the ICC” he added.

Last month the Arab League issued a resolution saying that the Sudanese judiciary is capable of prosecuting Darfur war crime suspect and described the ICC’s prosecutor position as “unbalanced”.

Only three Arab league states Jordan, Djibouti and Comoros are parties to the ICC.

Shalluf said that all Arab countries signed the 1998 Rome Statute which forms the basis of the ICC even though most did not ratify. This, according to Shalluf, signified an Arab recognition of the ICC.

“Why are we now fearful of the ICC prosecuting our leaders? In my opinion the Arab leaders may prefer the ICC to local courts which impose the death penalty” the French-Libyan born lawyer said.

Al-Daraji described the ICC as “white man justice” and said that Western countries “are violating the rights of Arab and Muslim living on their territories through terrorism courts”.

But Shalluf raised a question saying “so why do Arab people escape their countries and take boats to die in the sea” to sneak into Europe.

Arabs people are generally skeptical of the ICC and believe it is a tool in the hands of the West to apply double standards of justice.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered the provisions under the Statute that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.

(ST)