Iranian audience primed for war-crimes trials

The loyal readers of Iranian press agencies, including a large English-speaking audience, are being fed endless articles that make it sound as if any day now Olmert and Livini will be arrested and tried for war crimes. A current Mehr News headline reads "Iran calls for prosecution of Israeli leaders for war crimes." An older IRNA headline announced "Iran making preparations for trial of Israeli leaders for war crimes." An IRIB headline reads "List of Israeli leaders under prosecution," and there's a graphic to go with it:



IRIB explains:

Media carry these days a 15-strong list of military commanders and senior Israeli authorities who are under prosecution by international war crimes courts on charges of war crimes in Gaza during the Zionist regime's 22-invasion of the besieged territory started on December 27, 2008.

The list which follows however may not be exhaustive as any prospective judicial proceedings may dock additional perpetrators.

1- Ehud Olmert, prime minister
2- Ehud Barak, 'defense' minister
3- Tzipi Livni, foreign minister
4- Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff
5- Yoav Galant, southern command chief
6- Avi Benayahu, army spokesman
7- Avi Peled, commander of golani brigade
8- Amos Gilad, commander of security-diplomatic board
9- Dan Halutz, former army chief of staff
10- Aluf Eliezer Shkedi, former commander of air force
11- Ido Nehushtan, commander of air force
12- Natan Valnaie, deputy 'defense' minister
13- Yuval Diskin, Shabak chief
14- Meir Dagan, director of Mossad
15- Shimon Peres, president

Meanwhile, an IRNA headline announces: "Reports of mass arrests for Israeli war criminals":

Dozens of arrests warrants have already been issued for Israeli war criminals, said the head of the Gaza Human Rights Center Raji Sourani in an exclusive interview with IRNA in Berlin on Saturday.

"We have been targeting 87 people in six countries for whom arrest warrants have already been sent out," the Palestinian lawyer added.

Wouldn't you like to know what those six countries are? Do they include Sudan?

"One of the strategic issues at the Center of Human Rights (in Gaza) is to hold Israeli war criminals and military leaders accountable," Sourani stressed.

The Palestinian human rights activist said his organization was collecting evidence, documenting Israeli war crimes. "We are now working day and night to document these war crimes and hopefully we will hold them accountable. We hope they (Israelis) cannot get away with crimes like these," Sourani said.

"We will use universal jurisdiction to deal with these war criminals," the attorney added.

He urged more international attention to the issue of Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian territories.

Sourani hailed the recent worldwide mass demonstrations against the Jewish state as an effective way to address Israeli war crimes. [...]

Justice through protest! An IRNA opinion piece proclaims "World waiting for trial of Zionists":

Israeli Supreme Court issued a verdict against Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906– 1962), often known as "the architect of the Holocaust" in 1962.

It argued that since his crimes inflicted a huge damage on the international community’s interests, it is to the benefit of all nations to take practical steps to prevent them.

I suppose it is quite possible we will see something reminiscent of the arrest warrant issued in England for Doron Almog. Perhaps something will happen in the Hague. We'll probably also see some show trials in Muslim countries. It probably won't add up to much despite current reports that Olmert has formed "a special legal team to defend Israeli soldiers against potential war crimes charges." I don't think Israeli leaders are now going to have to live as fugitives from justice, and I doubt any Israeli leaders were planning any state visits to Iran any time soon. They'll just have to try them in absentia.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad