Australian PM Anthony Albanese was referred to the International Criminal Court in a communiqué presented to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan KC on Monday.
The nation’s leader stands accused as an accessory to the genocide occurring in the Gaza Strip, as do key members of his cabinet and Australian parliament.
This makes our PM the first leader of a western nation to have been referred to the ICC for prosecution, under article 15 of the Rome Statute. And he’s also the first western leader to be implicated at the international level as complicit in the plausible genocide that’s taking place in Gaza.
The claim has been brought by Australian law firm Birchgrove Legal, and it is led by barrister Sheryn Omeri KC.
The document accuses Australian nationals with accessory to genocide, especially in terms of article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute, which involves individual criminal responsibility for aiding and abetting genocide, and under article 25(3)(d), as in having knowingly contributed to the crimes of others.
This claim is being made against the backdrop of South African lawyers having taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, charging it with genocide. And the ICJ found that the nation is plausibly perpetrating genocide and ordered it to halt genocidal actions and increase aid into Gaza.
Right now, over 30,000 of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza have been destroyed by military weapons or starved to death, and when taking in the number of local injured by Israeli Defence Forces, the figures further skyrocket to surpass 100,000 people.
Since 7 October 2023, the document states, the Australian government and individual ministers and political figures, such as PM Anthony Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong, defence minister Richard Marles and Liberal leader Peter Dutton, have provided suspect support to the Israeli regime.
This has taken the form of “explicit political, rhetorical, moral, military and material support for Israel’s genocidal attack,” it continues, “despite their indisputable knowledge of the extent of the violent attacks”, and that includes providing political cover for Israel at international forums.
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