PA Refers Killing of Palestinian Journalist to International Criminal Court
The Palestinian Authority has referred the killing of Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said Monday in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency news outlet that the file had been submitted to the court in the Hague on Saturday.
Abu Akleh was killed while she was reporting on an Israel Defense Forces arrest raid in Jenin on May 11. It is not known which side fired the bullet that killed the journalist. Though Al Jazeera and the PA have accused the Israeli troops of targeting her in what they call an assassination. Israel denies the accusation. The PA has refused to participate in a joint investigation with Israel, and says that an IDF investigation into the killing can not be trusted.
The IDF has continued with an investigation into Abu Akleh’s death, though it announced on Thursday that it was not a criminal investigation since it took place during an arrest raid and was not seen as a criminal incident.
Abu Akleh was also a US citizen. Last week, 57 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives demanded in a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and FBI Director Chris Wray that the State Department and FBI open an investigation into her death.
