The date marked the first anniversary of the IFJ’s formal complaint to the ICC about Abu Akleh’s killing – since which time, prosecutor Karim Khan has made no apparent progress.
The meeting opened with Forensic Architecture’s reconstruction of the events that led up to Abu Akleh’s death on 11 May 2022. Their video draws on previously unavailable footage from cameras carried by Abu Akleh’s Al Jazeera colleagues, and forensic analysis of the location, and the lethal bullet. Judicially-tested evidence it is not, but it is as hard to dismiss as it is to watch.
A broader picture of the treatment of journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories came from Tatiana Eatwell, one of the barristers who prepared the case for the ICC. She pointed to a UN Independent Commission in 2018 that highlighted the cases of 39 media works who were injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces, five by bullet fragments, four by rubber-coated metal bullets and 32 by direct hits by tear gas canisters. “The UN inquiry found that the journalists were, like Abu Akleh, wearing ‘press’ vests or helmets. It stated that there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot journalists intentionally, despite seeing that they were clearly identified’”.
The testimony of journalist Ali Al-Samoudi, in his contribution to the meeting, laid this bare the consequences of this apparent policy. He was working with Abu Akleh on the day she was killed and was himself shot in the back: “We journalists are hesitant to cover events due to the constant threat of Israeli fire against journalists”, he said. Another Palestinian journalist, Amid Shehadah corroborated this: “Its clear that the Israeli army deliberately targets civilians – and journalists are particularly vulnerable”, he said.
Indeed, just a week after Abu Akleh’s killing, another female journalist, 31-year-old Ghufran Warasneh was shot and killed by Israeli armed forces near Arroub refugee camp in the West Bank.
“Shireen was not the first and she will not be the last. These killings will keep happening unless there is justice and accountability, which requires meaningful intervention from the ICC”, said Choudhury.
As well as allowing a deadly situation for journalists to endure, the lack of progress at the ICC has also had a demoralising affect on Palestinians more broadly. Nasser Abu Baker, president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate told the meeting in Geneva that legal inaction was eroding public trust in the judicial process. “There was great hope when this case was lodged and accepted that this terrible killing would be properly, independently, investigated, and if guilt was established, the perpetrators brought to justice. The longer this drags on, with nothing happening, the more it helps those who seek solutions outside the law”.
All of which makes a strong case for the ICC’s investigation to start, but sheds little light on the lack of progress to date?
Perhaps the wheels of international justice are bound to run slow? Chowdhury noted, however, that this is not always the case. “This reluctance to act seems to be exclusive to Palestine. Prosecutor Khan has already visited Ukraine at least five times this year. Only last week, the ICC announced that it had opened a representative office in Kyiv.”
One possible explanation for the inaction might be found in the nature of the ICC. One senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the IFJ delegation: “You have to understand that the ICC is an intensely political institution. It can be subject to intense lobbying to keep the brakes on certain cases, and it is subject to fashion, something that is currently working to Ukraine’s benefit.”
Fortunately, there appears to be enduring international concern about the case. Nearly 100 national officials attended the IFJ’s briefing, including representatives of the USA, UK, China, Greece, Finland, Iran, Turkey, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Against this backdrop, surely the only effective response is to keep up the pressure, and relentlessly seek opportunities to draw public attention to the case. This was precisely the commitment that IFJ treasurer Jim Boumelha made, closing the meeting. “The treatment of journalists by Israeli forces is an assault on free expression and an on-going tragedy for those Palestinian journalists who are maimed or lose their lives simply doing their jobs. I promise them and their families that the IFJ, and the unions we represent, will not rest until this case is properly investigated and heard in a court of law”.