{"id":87152,"date":"2019-04-12T13:48:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T20:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87152"},"modified":"2019-04-12T13:48:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T20:48:06","slug":"icc-rejects-a-request-to-investigate-war-crimes-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/12\/icc-rejects-a-request-to-investigate-war-crimes-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"ICC rejects a request to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy BBC News<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"US
Image captionJudges say Afghanistan’s current situation made the prospect for a successful investigation “limited”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected its prosecutor’s request to investigate alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court judges highlighted instability and the lack of co-operation with investigators in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling was hailed by US President Donald Trump as a “major international victory” but human rights group Amnesty International criticised it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes a week after the US revoked ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s visa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was thought to have been in response to her request to investigate possible crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining their unanimous decision, the three ICC pre-trial chamber judges said such an investigation “would not serve the interests of justice”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Trump said it was a victory “not only for these patriots, but for the rule of law”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statement, he called the ICC “illegitimate”<\/a> and said it would be met with a “swift and vigorous response” if it tried to prosecute citizens of the US or its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty said the refusal to investigate was a “shocking abandonment of victims” that would “weaken the court’s already questionable credibility”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty’s Biraj Patnaik said the decision would be seen as a “craven capitulation to Washington’s bullying”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n