Tony Blair Avoids Attempted Citizen's Arrest in Hong Kong
THE GUARDIAN: British activist interrupts former prime minister's speech with accusations of war crimes

The list of places where Tony Blair must look over his shoulder for protesters during his endless carousel around the global lecture circuit now includes Hong Kong, after a speech on faith and globalisation was interrupted by an activist seeking to make a citizen's arrest on the former prime minister.

Tom Grundy, a Briton living in the Chinese territory, said he walked towards Blair a few minutes into the address at Hong Kong University (HKU) with the intention of apprehending him for alleged offences connected to the Iraq war.

The 29-year-old said he had registered online to attend the talk, which took place on Thursday evening local time. Although Blair makes considerable sums as a paid-for speaker, this event was a more personal engagement, marking a link between HKU and his own Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Grundy carried with him a sheaf of notes about the legal basis for the attempted arrest, covering, he said, alleged violations of the UN charter, the Nuremberg principles, and the Geneva and Hague conventions. » | Peter Walker | Thursday, June 14, 2012

Leading British Muslim Leader Faces War Crimes Charges in Bangladesh
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: One of Britain's most important Muslim leaders is to be charged with war crimes, investigators and officials have told The Sunday Telegraph

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, director of Muslim spiritual care provision in the NHS, a trustee of the major British charity Muslim Aid and a central figure in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, fiercely denies any involvement in a number of abductions and "disappearances" during Bangladesh's independence struggle in the 1970s.

He says the claims are "politically-motivated" and false.

However, Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, the chief investigator for the country's International Crimes Tribunal, said: "There is prima facie evidence of Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin being involved in a series of killings of intellectuals.

"We have made substantial progress in the case against him. There is no chance that he will not be indicted and prosecuted. We expect charges in June."

Mr Mueen-Uddin could face the death penalty if convicted. » | Andrew Gilligan, Dhaka | Sunday, April 15, 2012

Human Rights Watch Calls for Syria to Face War Crimes

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Syrian security forces fired on anti-government protests on Friday, killing at least five people as Human Rights Watch accused the regime of crimes against humanity.

Mass protests after Friday afternoon prayers, followed by swift and deadly crackdowns by security forces, have become a weekly cycle throughout Syria's eight-month-old uprising. The U.N. estimates some 3,500 people have been killed in the crackdown since mid-March, when the uprising began.

But in recent weeks, the violence has spiked dramatically amid increasing signs that some protesters are taking up arms to protect themselves. There also have been reports of intense battles between soldiers and army defectors, setting the stage for even more bloodshed.

The unrest in Syria could balloon into a regional disaster. Damascus' web of allegiances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hizbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. And although Syria sees Israel as the enemy, the countries have held up a fragile truce for years.

On Friday, Human Rights Watch said Syrian forces have tortured and killed civilians in the rebellious province of Homs in an assault that indicates crimes against humanity. The group urged the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership during an emergency meeting on Saturday. » | Friday, November 11, 2011

Libya Accused of War Crimes
A new United Nations report critisises the Gaddafi regime and accuses its forces of war crimes. Al Jazeera's Rosalind Jordon reports from Washington DC.

Gaddafi's Daughter Sues Over Deadly Nato Air Strike

THE GUARDIAN: Aisha Gaddafi claims air strike that killed four members of her family, including her daughter, constitutes a war crime

The daughter of Muammar Gaddafi has launched a lawsuit for murder following the death in April of four members of her family during a Natoair strike.

Legal papers were submitted to the prosecutor's office in Brussels on Tuesday by the French lawyer for Aisha Gaddafi.

During the bombing raid on 30 April the Libyan leader's son Saif el-Arab, 29, as well as three of his grandchildren were killed. Ms Gaddafi's four-month-old daughter Mastoura was one of those who died.

She argues the coalition forces that carried out the attack are guilty of "war crimes", stating the air strike did not target a command and control post held by troops loyal to her father, but was a private residence in Tripoli where members of his family were living. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Mladic Appears before UN Court
Ratko Mladic faced his judges at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday to hear charges of genocide in the Bosnia war

Ratko Mladic: War Crimes Fugitive Arrested in Serbia

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ratko Mladic, the war crimes fugitive accused of orchestrating the Siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre, has been arrested in Serbia.

The former Chief of Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army was reportedly seized by police after an anonymous tip-off.

Boris Tadic, the Serbian president, said that Mladic, has been captured.

"On behalf of the Republic of Serbia we announce that Ratko Mladic has been arrested," Mr Tadic said at a press conference.

Croatian media, which first broke the story, said police there got confirmation from their Serbian colleagues that DNA analysis confirmed Mladic's identity. Belgrade's B92 radio said Mladic was arrested Thursday in a village close to the northern Serbian town of Zrenjanin.

Serbian media reported that the suspect was living under the name of Milorad Komadic. » | Murray Wardrop | Thursday, May 26, 2011

Nazi Death Camp Guard John Demjanjuk Found Guilty
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: John Demjanjuk, the former Nazi death camp guard, has been found guilty of almost 30,000 counts of accessory to murder and been jailed for five years.


The judge in the court in Munich said he was convinced that Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was a guard at the Sobibor death camp "and that as a guard he took part in the murder of at least 28,000 people."

Demjanjuk sat in a wheelchair before the judges as they announced their verdict, but showed no reaction.

The court sentenced him to five years in prison. It was not immediately how much credit he would get for time already served.

Demjanjuk's defense has said it would appeal a conviction.

Prosecutors had called for a six-year jail sentence for Demjanjuk, who was deported to Germany in 2009 from the United States, where he lived for decades after World War II.

Demjanjuk was brought into the packed courtroom in a wheelchair on Friday, as usual, wearing a light-blue baseball cap, dark glasses and an army-like green coat which he took off after arriving.

Demjanjuk has kept silent throughout the proceedings, sitting in a wheelchair or lying on a stretcher. His health was often a cause for concern during the trial, leading to frequent delays. » | Thursday, May 12, 2011

Radovan Karadzic's Death Squad Told Me to Dig My Grave, Says Muslim Survivor
THE TELEGRAPH: A Bosnian Muslim has described how he watched men dig their graves before Serb killers slashed their throats as he came face-to-face for the first time with the warlord Radovan Karadzic in a UN war crimes court.

The former Bosnian Serb leader, who is on trial for genocide and war crimes, was confronted by a victim of the ethnic cleansing and killings he is accused of unleashing during the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992.

Karadzic, who is defending himself, was repeatedly reprimanded by the UN judge for hectoring, trying to browbeat and interrupting Ahmet Zulic, a Muslim survivor of Serbian executions and detention camps, as he cross-examined him.

As Mr Zulic, 62, entered The Hague court with his head bowed, Karadzic subjected him to a baleful stare over his reading glasses before the prosecution's first witness began his, often, harrowing testimony.

The former mineworker described to the court how Serbs shelled Muslim houses in Sanski Most, in north west Bosnia, before he and many others were rounded up in June 1992 and held in horrific conditions, where they were regularly beaten or taken off to be killed.

"Two men would kick us in one part of the body and another would use a baton to beat you over the head until you became unconscious," he said. >>> Bruno Waterfield in The Hague | Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ex Bosnian Leader Accuses British Government of 'Rewriting History'
THE TELEGRAPH: A former Bosnian president facing extradition to Serbia to face war crimes charges yesterday accused the British Government of conspiring to "rewrite history" by allowing court proceedings to be brought against him.

Ejup Ganic, a university professor and friend of Baroness Thatcher, was arrested last month on suspicion of being involved in a 1992 massacre despite the charges having already been dismissed by a UN war tribunal.

Yesterday he appeared before Westminster magistrates after the Crown Prosecution Service accepted the Serbian extradition warrant.

It alleges that Mr Ganic ordered attacks that killed 42 Yugoslav soldiers despite a ceasefire in 1992. It also alleges that he was responsible for the torture and murder of captured soldiers and patients in a military hospital in 1992.

Mr Ganic, who spent 10 days in Wandsworth Prison following his arrest on March 1, claimed the warrant was a politically motivated abuse of the extradition arrangements between Britain and Serbia.

John Jones, his defence counsel, said that the charges had been examined and dismissed by the international tribunal investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

The 64-year old professor condemned the government's decision to accept the warrant.

"I am not happy with the decision of the British government, especially the Home Office, to initiate this process," he said. "It appears the British government volunteers to do the police job for the Milosevic regime which is still more or less in some way very active.

"The British government also volunteered to help Serbs to rewrite the chapter of Srebrenica and other places where genocide has been committed,"

He said the Serbian record was second only to "Nazi Germany in the books of genocide." >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, April 14, 2010

”Sweden Safe Haven for War Criminals”
STOCKHOLM NEWS: Amnesty International criticises Sweden for a wide range of obstacles to prosecutions and extraditions of such crimes as genocide, crime against humanity, war crime and torture.

In a report with special focus on Sweden Amnesty finds a number of gaps in the national legal framework. Several international crimes are not defined as crimes under Swedish law; principles of criminal responsibility are not defined in accordance with the strictest requirements of international law and criminals who have committed these serious crime [sic] are covered by statutes of limitation.

Around 1500 war criminals is [sic] believed to live in Sweden. If the laws are not changed, they could go free from any persecution, Amnesty writes. 



Sweden consistently takes a strong stance against impunity for the most serious crimes in international fora. But the same commitment is not shown at home. >>> David Jonasson | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – Sweden) >>>