Al Jazeera to submit Shireen Abu Akleh case to ICC, network says - CNN

Jerusalem CNN  — 

Al Jazeera has submitted a lawsuit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) implicit the sidesplitting of writer Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot successful the head portion covering an Israeli raid successful Jenin successful the occupied West Bank successful May.

“Al Jazeera’s ineligible squad has conducted a afloat and elaborate probe into the lawsuit and unearthed caller grounds based connected respective eyewitness accounts, the introspection of aggregate items of video footage, and forensic grounds pertaining to the case,” Al Jazeera said successful a connection Tuesday.

The web claims caller grounds and video amusement the Palestinian-American writer and her colleagues were straight fired astatine successful a “deliberate killing” by what Al Jazeera called Israeli concern forces, a assertion which Israel has repeatedly denied.

Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid Tuesday repeated a long-standing rejection that immoderate extracurricular authorization would analyse Israel Defense Forces troops.

“No 1 volition analyse IDF soldiers and nary 1 volition preach to america astir morals successful warfare, surely not Al Jazeera,” Lapid said.

The IDF referred CNN questions astir the ICC lawsuit to the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which declined to comment.

The ICC confirmed Tuesday that it had received a submission from Al Jazeera.

“Under nonfiction 15 of the Rome Statute immoderate idiosyncratic oregon radical whitethorn nonstop accusation (communications) connected alleged crimes to the ICC Prosecutor, who is work bound to support the confidentiality of the accusation received,” the prosecutor’s bureau told CNN via email.

In September, the IDF ​admitted determination is simply a “high possibility” Abu Akleh was “accidentally” changeable and killed by Israeli occurrence aimed astatine “suspects identified arsenic equipped Palestinian gunmen during an speech of fire.”

The IDF said astatine the clip the Israeli subject did not mean to prosecute transgression charges oregon prosecutions of immoderate of the soldiers involved.

A CNN investigation published 2 weeks aft Abu Akleh was killed suggested that the fatal changeable came from a presumption wherever IDF troops are known to person been positioned. The signifier of gunfire connected a histrion down wherever she was lasting astatine the clip suggested that the gunfire was targeted alternatively than indiscriminate, an adept told CNN.

The CNN probe unearthed grounds — including 2 videos of the country of the shooting — suggesting that determination was nary progressive combat, nor immoderate Palestinian militants, adjacent Abu Akleh successful the moments starring up to her death.

She was wearing a flak overgarment identifying her arsenic property astatine the clip she was killed.

Al Jazeera said Tuesday: “The assertion by the Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed by mistake successful an speech of occurrence is wholly unfounded. The grounds presented to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) confirms, without immoderate doubt, that determination was nary firing successful the country wherever Shireen was, different than the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) shooting straight astatine her.”

“The IOF enquiry that recovered determination was nary suspicion of immoderate transgression being committed is wholly undermined by the disposable grounds which has present been provided to the OTP. The grounds shows that this deliberate sidesplitting was portion of a wider run to people and soundlessness Al Jazeera,” the web added.

Abu Akleh’s household besides submitted an authoritative ailment to the ICC earlier this twelvemonth to request justness for her death, Al Jazeera reported.