AMICC talks to the Voice of America

Court Advocates Hope Bashir Gets Message from Karadzic Arrest
By Howard Lesser
Washington, DC
23 July 2008
Voice of America News

Listen to ICC Coalition Supporter Matthew Heaphy - (MP3)

Demonstrators continued to rally in the streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum Tuesday against plans by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The pro-Bashir rallies contrast dramatically with crowds of Muslims in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, celebrating the arrest of ousted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic after an 11-year manhunt.

Karadzic, who was indicted by the ICC for the 1995 killings of eight thousand men and boys, in what has become known as the Srebrenica Massacre, will be taken to the Hague tribunal to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the three-year Balkan conflict (1992-95). Matthew Heaphy is deputy convener of the American NGO (non-governmental) Coalition for the ICC, an independent group dedicated to backing the court’s operations and its pursuit of fairness and justice. He says that President Bashir may be able to draw some important lessons from the international resolve that finally brought Radovan Karadzic to justice.

“The case against President al-Bashir is certainly controversial. But if they are successful in obtaining an arrest warrant for him, the arrest of Karadzic makes it apparent that it will be possible to arrest President al-Bashir as well,” he notes.

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• Read John McCain and Barack Obama's statements on the International Criminal Court. (pdf)

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A lesson in international justice
By Trish Mehaffey
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — The International Criminal Court is a permanent, independent judicial institution that investigates and tries heinous crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes.

There’s no other court like it, said Matthew Heaphy, deputy convener of the American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court. The United Nations’ International Court of Justice can only decide disputes between states and this international court is treaty-based and can try individuals only for designated atrocity crimes.

Heaphy is the guest speaker today at Kirkwood Community College in celebration of the International Day of Justice. He will explain the court, created 10 years ago, to the students and talk about some of the cases the court has heard.

Heaphy said the United States hasn’t joined the coalition because it initially wanted to control the court or exempt U.S. nationals but he hopes that will change in the near future. The United States seems to be coming around as it allowed the Security Council to refer the Darfur atrocities to the court.

Canada, Australia, all members of the European Union and all members of NATO except for Turkey and the United States, are members of the court. About 139 countries signed the Statute adopted in Rome in 1998 and 100 countries have ratified it.

Jeremy Brigham, faculty adviser of Kirkwood’s Student Alliance, said the program today, co-sponsored by Amnesty International, also will include student interviews that were videotaped regarding their countries’ experiences of crimes against humanity. Another student, Zarif Muhammad, also will read a poem he wrote “Justice for all.” The poem asks for the world to take a stand against genocide and other heinous crimes.

Many of the international students come from the Africa and Sudan regions, so they probably have more awareness of the horrible crimes happening in the world, Michael Abdalah, president of Kirkwood Student Alliance, said. There are 500 international students at Kirkwood.

Contact the writer: (319) 398-8318 or trish.mehaffey@gazcomm.com

• Read John McCain and Barack Obama's statements on the International Criminal Court. (pdf)
• Find out more about AMICC here.
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Read John McCain and Barack Obama's statements on the International Criminal Court. (pdf)

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