Madrid Forced to Change Law?

Israel says Spain says it will amend war crimes law

Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:35pm EST

JERUSALEM, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Israel said on Friday the Spanish government had said it would work to amend a law under which a Madrid court is to consider trying seven Israelis over the killing of Palestinians.

Spain’s High Court announced this week it would launch a war crimes investigation into a Israeli ex-defense minister and six other top security officials for their role in a 2002 attack that killed a Hamas commander and 14 civilians in Gaza.

Spanish law allows the prosecution of foreigners for such crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity and torture committed anywhere in the world.

“I was just told by the Spanish foreign minister that Spain decided to change the legislation,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told journalists after a telephone conversation with her Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos.

“In order to change the possibility of different organizations, political organizations, to abuse the legal system in Spain in order to put charges against Israelis and others that are fighting terror.”

Spain’s Foreign Ministry did not reply to repeated telephone requests for confirmation.

Spanish state television TVE quoted government sources as saying the possibility of a legal “adjustment or modification” may have been mentioned, but it would not be retroactive and would not affect the case before the courts.

The case, filed on behalf of the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, has sent shockwaves through Israel, which is trying to fend off foreign censure over the civilian casualty toll from its 22-day offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Calls to investigate Israel over alleged war crimes in Gaza conflict prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to promise military personnel state protection from foreign prosecution.

Any government-initiated changes to Spanish law would have to be approved by congress. TVE said Spain would not renounce universal jurisdiction, which has been on its statute books since 1870.

Livni, who gave no details on how Spain planned to amend the law or handle the case against Israel, said of her conversation with Moratinos:

“I think that this is very important news and I hope that other states in Europe will do the same, and will follow this.” (Writing by Dan Williams; additional reporting by Jason Webb and Martin Roberts in Madrid; editing by Andrew Roche)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Palestinian women and children in Israeli imprisonment

Tribunal Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th January 2008

Israel and International Law
With focus on Palestinian women and children in Israeli imprisonment

Organizers: Human Rights March, UN Association and Mandela Center

1. Do the Israeli authorities fulfill their obligations as an occupying power in relation to the Palestinian women and children in Israeli captivity?

2. Are the Palestinian women and children in Israeli prisons exposed to treatment prohibited by international conventions and the UN Convention against Torture?

Torture methods	Children under 18	Women
1. physical beating	74%	44%
2. “shaking”1	36%	15%
3. suspension	70%	48%
5. segregation	71%	73%
14. enforced nakedness	59%	47%
15. sexual harassment and threats of rape	17%	36%

For more information visit: http://www.humanrightsmarch.dk/

3. Does Israel comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to the imprisoned Palestinian children?

Two brave Israeli soldiers arrest leader of the perpetrators (!)

Palestinian girls arrested by Israeli Occupation forces, awaiting sexual humiliation!

Another Palestinian youth arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces:
On his way to the torture chambers

A defiant Palestinian kid looks on …

For more information visit: http://www.humanrightsmarch.dk/

U.S. Tortures Prisoners in Violation of International Law

Bush Authorizes Torture

In an interview with BBC former President Jimmy Carter said: “Our country, for the first time in my lifetime, has abandoned the basic principle of human rights…We’ve said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime.”Carter believes that the United States has tortured detainees and that President Bush has authorized the abuse, which violates international laws.

Related Links
Jimmy Carter Slams Bush On Human Rights
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a “disaster” for U.S
United States has tortured detainees and Bush has authorized the abuse