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Tuesday 09 February 2010 03:12 GMT

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Britons seek Israeli Barak arrest
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:57:34 GMT
Palestinian rights groups have asked a British court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli war minister Ehud Barak, who is in the country to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other officials.

A number of activists, parliamentarians and members of government organizations in the city of Brighton, south-west Britain have reportedly held rallies against Barak visit to the country.

According to Alalam, the protesters demand the trial of Barack as a war criminal and violator of human rights in Gaza.

Tayab Ali, who is representing the Palestinian groups, said papers filed with London's City of Westminster Magistrates Court accuse the Israeli war minister of violating the Geneva conventions and committing war crimes while directing the Israeli regime's incursion into the Gaza city.

A UN investigation into the attack concluded earlier this month that the conflict, which claimed about 1,400 Palestinian lives, was marked by war crimes by Israeli regime.

"We think anybody suspected of war crimes should be brought to justice," said Ali.

The suit was brought by the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City and Ramallah-based al-Haq, who scrambled to put together a case against Barak when they found out he was going to Britain, according to the Mezan Center's Mahmoud Abu Rahma.

Abu Rahma said he hoped to take advantage of Britain's principle of universal jurisdiction, under which alleged war criminals can be tried in domestic UK courts.

Lawmaker Martin Linton, the chairman of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East, said his party should not be giving a platform to a man he said was "implicated in accusations of war crimes."

A court clerk said that, as of Tuesday afternoon, no action had been taken on the request for an arrest warrant, although Ali said it was possible a hearing would be held on the request late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

Barak is the latest Israeli regime's minister threatened with arrest over war crimes charges abroad.

In 2005, Doron Almog, a retired general, dodged arrest by staying on aboard his plane at London's Heathrow airport after a tip-off that police were outside to arrest him. The Israeli regime jetliner flew him straight back home, and the warrant was eventually dropped for procedural reasons.

The war crimes allegations stemmed from his role as commander of the Israeli regime army in Gaza in 2002, when the Zionist soldiers destroyed 59 civilian houses in Gaza.

In December 2007, the Zionist regime public security minister Avi Dichter, turned down an invitation to visit Britain after being advised he could be arrested for his role in the 2002 assassination of a senior Hamas fighter in Gaza. The deadly airstrike on the fighter killed 14 other people, including nine children.

Complaints have also been filed in Britain against two former Israeli regime military chiefs, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, in connection with the airstrike.
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