STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- from HA'ARETZ E n g l i s h E d i t i o n Tuesday, June 19, 2001 Sabra-Chatila survivors sue Sharon in Belgium for crimes against humanity Ha'aretz Correspondent and AP By Nitzan Horowitz Survivors of a 1982 massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Lebanon opened legal proceedings yesterday in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, arguing that he was guilty of crimes against humanity for his role in the killings. The 28 survivors presented their case against Sharon and others alleged to have been involved in the massacres to an investigating judge. Under Belgian law, war crimes committed abroad may be tried in Belgian courts. At the time of the massacres, Sharon was Israel's defense minister, and Beirut, at the outskirts of which lay the two refugee camps, was under Israel Defense Forces siege. Lebanese Christians Phalangist militiamen, who were allied with Israel, carried out the killings of hundreds of unarmed civilians following the assassination of Lebanon's president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, a pro-Israel Christian and leader of the Phalangists. Belgian lawyer Michael Verhaeghe, who is representing the survivors, said there was sufficient evidence to convict those responsible. "The facts in this case undeniably reveal crimes against humanity," he told reporters. A 1993 Belgian law that gives local courts jurisdiction over violations of the Geneva war crimes convention allows claimants to seek cases against foreigners suspected of war crimes no matter where they occurred. Four Rwandans were sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in jail this month for their role in the 1994 genocide of the country's Tutsi ethnic minority. If the Belgian judge decides to press charges, Sharon could be arrested if he enters Belgium. However, lawyers said as a serving head of state he would likely enjoy immunity. The plaintiffs said they could also press similar charges against Sharon in other countries. On Sunday, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a report on the program Panorama, in which the massacres were investigated and Sharon was presented as "the accused." An expert on international law, Princeton University Professor Richard Falk, who served as vice chairman of an international commission that investigated Israel's invasion of Lebanon, said that Sharon would be indictable on war crimes charges. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the BBC report distorted, unfair, and intentionally hostile. "The timing of the program ... shows lack of good faith and an attempt to tarnish Israel and its leader," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yaffa Ben-Ari said in a written statement. Sharon himself refused yesterday to comment on the BBC program. __________________________________ (c) 2001, Ha'Aretz English Edition http://www.haaretz.co.il/eng __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
