A group of international activists and lawyers involved in the defense of the toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein organised a mock trial of the U.S. President George W. Bush and the British and Israeli Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Ariel Sharon for the heinous crimes the three leaders committed in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
Charges against the U.S. President and the British and Israeli Premiers include "crimes committed against civilians in Palestine and Iraq.
Although not legally binding, the trial, which was headed by former Malaysian Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, is an "exhibition of popular opposition to the policies of those three leaders in the region and the extent of harm and damage they inflicted on civilians and countries by wars they waged and the oppression practiced in jails run by their (security) forces," as described by Ziad al-Khasawneh, who heads Saddam's defense team, during an interview before the trial was held.
Unfortunately very few media outlets covered the trial which was held in the Egyptian capital earlier this month and ignored its huge importance even if it doesn’t mean any legal action will be taken against any of the three leaders.
During the trial, sponsored by the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Federation bringin together international lawyers and human rights activists, including former Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella and ex-Malaysian leader Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, said Ziad Khasawneh, the federation's assistant secretary general and once Saddam's chief lawyer, American, British and Israeli leaders were "charged" with the invasion and occupation of Iraq, "genocide committed" in Iraqi cities, as well as collective punishment in Iraq, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Israeli massacres of Palestinians and assassinations of political leaders.
Saddam's lawyers and other international activists have long spoken of plans to convene the mock trial, saying the publicity will help expose their view that Saddam is innocent of war crimes and that Bush and Blair are aggressors because they invaded Iraq on the false pretext that its leader possessed weapons of mass destruction which were never and probably will never be found.
A real trial needs to be held for the three leaders, responsible for most of the awes the world faced the past years. Nations need to regain their belief in international laws that were originally set to prevent unnecessary wars on our planet. Laws that prohibit any violations of human rights and consider a crime threatening human lives or security.
Looking at what happened and still happens in Iraq and Palestine- Thousands of lives had been lost in those two devastated nations and more to be lost if no legal action was taken against those three to prevent more catastrophes in the universe.
According to international law, Ariel Sharon who led the Unit 101 in an attack on Bedouins in demilitarised Al Auja (a 145 square km juncture at the western Negev-Sinai frontier), killing an unknown number of souls, and led the same unit into another attack on the village of Qibya in Jordan- Sharon who ordered the inhuman massacres of Sabra and Shatila in which also an unknown number of innocent civilians were butchered- who okays the daily murders against the Palestinian population, is considered a war criminal.
According to international law, Tony Blair, who lied to his nation about evidence that Iraq does have ties with Al Qaeda network, and possess weapons of mass destruction and thus poses a real threat to humanity- Blair who joined the U.S. president’s unwise decision to invade a sovereign nation on a false pretext, killing thousands of innocents and committing other heinous crimes in Iraq, is considered a criminal.
According to international law, George W. Bush , who fooled the Congress, U.S. nation and the entire world about the truth of his unjustified military campaign against Iraq, which destroyed the infrastructure of the once rich country and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of its civilians- Bush who initiated many conflicts all over the world to secure the U.S. interests by violating human rights, abusing detainees and spreading lies, is considered a war criminal.