THE HAGUE: For a few hours last week, the International Criminal Court looked poised to take a Libyan warlord into custody. Instead, member state Italy sent the head of a notorious network of detention centers back home.
That has left the court without a single trial ahead for the first time since it arrested its first suspect in 2006. And it’s now facing serious external pressure, notably from US President Donald Trump.
Though its docket remains empty, the court still wields an $200 million annual budget and a large number of legal eagles keen to lay their hands on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The lack of trials damages the court’s reputation,” said Danya Chaikel of the International Federation for Human Rights. “The point of the ICC is to investigate and prosecute those most responsible for international crimes.”
Empty courtrooms show how hard it is to end impunity
The only permanent global court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities has not been in this position for almost two decades.
Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga became the first person convicted by court in The Hague. In 2012, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conscripting child soldiers.
Since Lubanga’s trial began, the court has had a slow but steady stream of proceedings. To date it has convicted 11 people and three verdicts are pending.
It has issued 32 unsealed arrest warrants. Those suspects range from Netanyahu and Putin to Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and Gamlet Guchmazov, accused of torture in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia.
But it faces numerous challenges. Trump, on his first day in office, reinstated an executive order from his previous term sanctioning court staff. A more damaging piece of legislation, which would sanction the court as an institution, has passed one chamber of Congress but is stalled in the Senate for now due to opposition from Democrats.
Putin will probably remain beyond court’s reach
The previous chief prosecutor, Gambian Fatou Bensouda, described being the subject of “thug-style tactics” while she was in office. The court was the victim of a cybersecurity attack in 2023 that left systems offline for months and some technical issues have still not been resolved. In 2022, the Dutch intelligence service said it had foiled a sophisticated attempt by a Russian spy using a false Brazilian identity to work as an intern at the court.
The current prosecutor, British lawyer Karim Khan, has requested a record-breaking 24 arrest warrants. But many suspects — like Putin — will probably remain beyond the reach of the court.
Neither Russia nor Israel are members of the court and do not accept its jurisdiction, making it highly unlikely those countries would extradite their citizens, let alone their leaders, to the ICC.
“They haven’t issued arrest warrants for people who they are likely to arrest,” says Mark Kersten, an international criminal justice expert at University of the Fraser Valley in Canada.
Ultimately, countries are responsible for physically apprehending people and bringing them to The Hague, says Chaikel, whose group oversees nearly 200 human rights organizations worldwide.
Many of the court’s 125 member states are unwilling to arrest suspects for political reasons. Mongolia gave Putin a red-carpet welcome for a state visit last year, ignoring the obligation to apprehend him. South Africa and Kenya refused to arrest former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir when he visited. The 81-year-old was ousted from power in a coup in 2019 but the authorities in Sudan have still refused to hand him over to the ICC.
Unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies
Italy claims the ICC warrant for Libyan warlord Ossama Anjiem had procedural errors. He was released this month by an order of Rome’s Court of Appeal. “It was not a government choice,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni told reporters.
But Italy, which was a founding member of the court, may have had its own reasons for not executing the warrant. Italy needs the Tripoli government to prevent waves of migrants from setting out on smugglers boats. Any trial in The Hague of the warlord could not only upset that relationship, but also bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.
On Wednesday, three men who say they were mistreated by Anjiem, also known as Ossama Al-Masri, while in Libyan detention centers told a packed conference in Italy’s lower house of parliament that they want justice for themselves and others who died before making it to Italy.
David Yambio, a South Sudanese migrant who said he had cooperated with the ICC investigation, called Al-Masri’s repatriation “a huge betrayal. A huge disappointment.”
There is little consequence for countries who fail to arrest those wanted by the court. Judges found that South Africa, Kenya and Mongolia failed to uphold their responsibilities but by then, the wanted men had already left.
International Criminal Court has Putin, Netanyahu in its sights, yet its courtrooms are empty
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International Criminal Court has Putin, Netanyahu in its sights, yet its courtrooms are empty
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- Though its docket remains empty, the court still wields an $200 million annual budget
- The International Criminal Court has found itself without a single trial ahead for the first time in years
Republican lawmaker seeks US judge’s impeachment over ruling against Trump
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- Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning some Democrats would need to vote for impeachment in order to remove the judge from the bench
A Republican ally of Donald Trump has moved to impeach a federal judge who blocked a team set up by the president and spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk from accessing US Treasury Department systems responsible for trillions of dollars in payments. Congressman Derrick Van Orden on Tuesday filed a resolution in the House of Representatives seeking to have US District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan removed from office following calls by Musk and several conservative lawmakers for judges to be impeached after stymieing key parts of Trump’s agenda.
Van Orden’s resolution accused the judge of judicial misconduct and abuse of power.
In order to be removed from office, the House must pass by a simple majority vote an article of impeachment accusing Engelmayer of a crime and then the Senate must then vote by at least a two-thirds majority to convict the judge. Republicans control both chambers of Congress but do not have a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Engelmayer, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, drew Musk’s scorn after temporarily blocking Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing Treasury Department systems in a lawsuit brought by 19 Democratic state attorneys general. That decision and rulings by other judges have prompted Trump, Musk and their conservative allies to sharply criticize judges who have ruled against the Republican president’s policies, fueling concerns about whether his administration will abide by judicial rulings.
Van Orden and Engelmayer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Judges rarely speak publicly about matters concerning pending litigation.
Trump has put Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, in charge of his efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government. Musk has called for a “wave of judicial impeachments.” Two conservative lawmakers have announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against US District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island, who blocked Trump’s administration from freezing federal funding, as well as Engelmayer.
Van Orden, whose reelection bid last year received Trump’s endorsement, was the first member of Congress to formally do so, accusing Engelmayer in his resolution of committing high crimes and misdemeanors. He is the resolution’s sole sponsor.
Van Orden in his resolution accused Engelmayer of ruling against DOGE and Trump “on purely political grounds, demonstrating clear bias and prejudice against the president and the 74,000,000 Americans who voted for him.”
Marin Levy, a Duke University School of Law professor who studies the federal judiciary, said impeachment under the US Constitution is supposed to be reserved for serious misconduct, not disappointment with court decisions, which can be appealed.
“Articles of impeachment filed against judges who are simply performing their constitutional role represent an attempt to politicize the judiciary and quite frankly to intimidate judges,” Levy said.
Impeachments of federal judges are rare: Only 15 have ever been impeached in US history, and only eight have been convicted by the Senate, most recently in 2010. Such impeachments in modern history have typically related to criminal or bribery offenses.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning some Democrats would need to vote for impeachment in order to remove the judge from the bench. US Chief Justice John Roberts in a year-end report issued on December 31 defending the judiciary’s independence described a threat by an unnamed elected official to impeach a judge over her decisions as a regrettable example of “recent attempts to intimidate judges.”
Canada refugee claims drop as country issues fewer visas
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- About 11,840 people filed refugee claims in Canada in January, down from a high of 19,821 in July, Immigration and Refugee Board data shows
- Canada is publicly discouraging asylum-seekers and clamping down on the visas it issues
TORONTO: Refugee claims in Canada are dropping from historic highs as the country grants fewer visas and advocates worry legitimate claimants are being left stranded with few good options.
About 11,840 people filed refugee claims in Canada in January, down from a high of 19,821 in July, Immigration and Refugee Board data shows. This was the lowest monthly figure since September 2023.
Canada is publicly discouraging asylum-seekers and clamping down on the visas it issues, aiming to gradually reduce the population and reduce strain on services amid a broader backlash against migrants.
Last year Canada issued about 1.5 million visitor visas, down from about 1.8 million in 2023, according to government data.
The decline was particularly sharp for certain countries that have been significant sources of asylum-seekers, Reuters analysis shows.
The number of visitor visas granted to Bangladeshi citizens dropped to 27,975 from 45,322; Haitians dropped to 5,487 from 8,984; Nigerians, to 51,828 from 79,378. Visitor visas to some countries with high refugee acceptance rates have declined from 2023. Last year Canada granted visitor visas to 330 Afghans, down from 468; 38,075 Iranians, down from 57,127; 2,019 Ugandans, from 6,096; 1,174 Syrians, from 2,716; and 3,199 Kenyans, from 11,464.
The number of pending claims is still at a historic high — 278,457 in January, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Canada has no asylum-seeker visas. Anyone who wants to claim refugee status must come as a visitor, student or worker — or sneak into the country, no easy feat for a place surrounded by water and an agreement with the United States to turn back asylum-seekers.
Displaced people can also wait in refugee camps, potentially for years, in hopes they will be selected for resettlement.
Canada is using heightened scrutiny of visa applications from countries with the “highest rates of abuse” with the aim of ensuring visas are used for their intended purpose, Renee LeBlanc Proctor, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marc Miller, wrote in an email.
“This work additionally protects the asylum process ... so that it is available for those who need it most.”
At a time of global displacement, advocates argue, Canada’s clampdown leaves desperate people with no good options. “It’s very problematic,” said Diana Gallego, co-executive director at Toronto-based FCJ Refugee Center, which provides services to asylum-seekers.
“If people are fleeing persecution the only way that some of them may find safe haven is having an exit visa because, if not, they are forced to cross borders walking, putting their lives in danger.”
Gallego said the center is seeing fewer people, although she does not know if they are being sent elsewhere.
“It’s like invisible walls.”
Trump calling Zelensky a dictator is ‘wrong and dangerous’: Scholz
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- Olaf Scholz: ‘What is correct is that Volodymyr Zelensky is the elected head of state of Ukraine’
- Annalena Baerbock: ‘No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe’
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that it was “wrong and dangerous” of US President Donald Trump to call Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator.”
“What is correct is that Volodymyr Zelensky is the elected head of state of Ukraine,” Scholz told the Spiegel news site.
Earlier on Wednesday Trump called Zelensky “a dictator without elections.”
Zelensky’s five-year term ended last year but Ukrainian law does not require elections during wartime.
Scholz condemned any attempt “to deny President Zelensky democratic legitimacy.”
“The fact that proper elections can’t be held in the middle of the war is reflected in the Ukrainian constitution and electoral law,” he said.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also hit back at Trump’s comments, branding them “absurd.”
“If you look at the real world instead of just firing off a tweet, then you know who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship: people in Russia, people in Belarus,” Baerbock told broadcaster ZDF.
Earlier Berlin had also pushed back against Trump’s claim that Kyiv had “started” the fighting.
“No one but Putin started or wanted this war in the heart of Europe,” Baerbock said in a statement, adding that “we are working with all our might to further strengthen Ukraine.”
She said “we are at an existential waypoint for security and peace in Europe” and that the goal was “achieving lasting peace for Ukraine — safe and protected from future Russian aggression.”
Baerbock said that any “false peace ... would only give Russia a respite for new military campaigns.”
Regarding the fast-moving events since Trump spoke directly with Putin about ending the conflict, she said that “we must not allow ourselves to be confused” and “keep a cool head.”
Downplaying Europe’s role on Ukraine “only plays into the hands” of Russia, she said.
“I therefore advocate acting confidently toward the US administration.”
Austrian authorities arrest teenager who apparently planned an attack at a railway station
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- The arrest was triggered by tips to Austrian intelligence
- The suspect had a knife in his pocket at the time of his arrest, the ministry said
VIENNA: Austrian investigators have arrested a 14-year-old who was apparently planning an attack at a railway station in Vienna and found material that suggested he supported the Daesh group, authorities said Wednesday.
The Interior Ministry said that the boy, an Austrian with Turkish roots, was arrested in the capital on Feb. 10, the Austria Press Agency reported. The arrest was triggered by tips to Austrian intelligence that a supporter of Daesh had posted stories and videos with Islamic extremist content on several TikTok profiles.
The suspect had a knife in his pocket at the time of his arrest, the ministry said. During a search of his home, investigators found numerous Islamic extremist books as well as sketches of attacks with knives and machetes at a station and against police officers.
They also found handwritten instructions for making explosive material to serve as a detonator for a bomb.
Further material that apparently was meant to be used in making a bomb was found in the building’s basement, along with other knives. The suspect refused to testify in initial questioning.
APA reported that he apparently had planned an attack at the Westbahnhof, a major railway station in Vienna.
On Sunday, a teenager was killed and five other people were wounded in a stabbing in Villach, in southern Austria, by a man with possible connections with Daesh.
The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian, was arrested after the attack on Saturday afternoon.
Pope Francis is alert in hospital, Vatican says, as people leave flowers and notes
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- Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult
- The Vatican had said previously that the pope would stay in hospital as long as necessary to tackle a “complex clinical situation“
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, who is spending his sixth day in hospital for treatment of a respiratory infection, is alert and ate breakfast on Wednesday, the Vatican said in its latest update on the pontiff’s fragile health.
Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year-old pope who was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.
The Vatican had said previously that the pope had a polymicrobial infection, which occurs when two or more micro-organisms are involved, adding that he would stay in hospital as long as necessary to tackle a “complex clinical situation.”
A Vatican official, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the pope’s condition, said on Wednesday Francis was not on a ventilator and was breathing on his own.
The official said the pope had been able to get out of bed and sit in an armchair in his hospital room, and was continuing to do some work.
The Vatican is expected to give a further update on the pope’s condition later on Wednesday.
A wave of messages of support for Francis had come in from across the world, the Vatican’s official media outlet reported. Pilgrims at the Vatican on Wednesday for the pope’s canceled weekly audience expressed hope for his recovery.
“We will pray for him so that he can recover as soon as possible,” said Gianfranco Rizzo, a pilgrim from Bari, Italy.
The pope has been plagued by ill health in recent years, including regular bouts of flu, sciatica nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that required surgery in 2023. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed.
All the pope’s public engagements have been canceled through Sunday and he has no further official events on the Vatican’s published calendar.
’VERY TARGETED THERAPY’
Gemelli hospital, Rome’s largest, has a special suite for treating popes, and is known especially for often treating the late Pope John Paul II during his long papacy.
Francis spent nine days at Gemelli in June 2023, when he had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.
Outside the hospital on Wednesday, people were leaving flowers and small personal notes under a famous statue of John Paul II, wishing a speedy recovery for Francis.
Victoria Darmody, a tourist from England, said she came to the hospital just to be near the pope. “We were hoping to go to the papal audience today but felt this was the right place to be instead,” she said.
Andrea Vicini, a Jesuit priest and medical doctor, said it was notable that the Vatican’s statement on Tuesday referred to the pontiff as having the onset of pneumonia and not bronchopneumonia. The latter would indicate an infection that is more widespread, he said.
“It (sounds like) it’s more localized and has not spread,” said Vicini, a professor at Boston College, who said he did not have details of the pope’s case beyond the Vatican’s public statements.
“If they identified the pathogen, as I expect they would have done, they will have a very targeted therapy,” he said. “I am optimistic. It seems they are controlling what is happening.”
Work at the Vatican was continuing as the pope was in hospital. One senior official, Cardinal Michael Czerny, was still expected to depart on Wednesday for a five-day visit to Lebanon.
The Vatican’s top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, returned to Rome as scheduled on Wednesday morning from a trip to Burkina Faso.