Lord Anderson of Swansea writes for ePolitix.com ahead of his question in the House of Lords on arrest warrants for senior Israelis visiting the UK.
Four weeks ago, lawyers based in the UK, obtained in the City of Westminster Magistrates Court, a warrant for the arrest of Tzipi Livni, leader of the Israeli opposition and foreign minister at the time of the invasion of Gaza. As a result, she cancelled the visit.
The Islamist group, Hamas, later admitted their involvement in the proceedings - and that generally they were maintaining efforts to have senior Israelis arrested when they travelled to the UK and other countries.
Last October, they were involved in a similar application for the arrest of the Israeli defence minister, who was due to address the Labour Party conference.
That failed because of his diplomatic immunity.
This month, a group of senior Israeli military officers refused to attend a seminar in London, as the government could not guarantee that they would not be arrested.
How can this happen?
Under the provision of the Magistrates Court Act 1960 anyone within the jurisdiction can apply to a court for a warrant to arrest a person against whom they wish to bring a private prosecution for a serious offence. There is no need to inform either the proposed respondent or the prosecuting authorities.
The court will issue a warrant if, on the evidence of a written formal allegation, they judge that there is a case to answer. The identity of the applicant need not be made public.
But in this case, Hamas have admitted their role. As a result, major UK allies, the US, Germany as well as Israel after involvement in battles, for example, are at risk of arrest when they visit this country.
Hamas, which controls Gaza after winning elections there, is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU, including the UK. In Gaza, it has dealt with its rival Fatah with great ruthlessness.
It is therefore surely absurd that they can misuse our courts to obtain an arrest warrant for the leader of the opposition of a friendly and democratic ally.
The government have now recognised the damage that can be caused to our diplomatic relations. On December 20 last year, the FCO stated that they were looking urgently at ways of changing the system.
One suggested remedy is to give the Attorney General the right to veto such applications if judged improper, including - presumably - potential damage to UK interests.
Hence the question, which is designed to ascertain in what way the government now propose urgently to remedy a problem they have been aware of for several months.
Article Comments
There are provisions of international law under which those charged with war crimes, breaches of the Geneva Conventions etc. can and should be tried in any country party to those conventions. If Hamas choose to jump on the band wagon, that does not alter the fact that charges should be brought in appropriate cases, and our government should not change our law and depart from established principles of international law.
19th Jan 2010 at 9:33 am by Michael Ellman
