The ICC must hold the US accountable for crimes in Afghanistan
This article is more than 5 years old
Katherine Gallagher
An investigation now would show no one is above the law when it comes to torture
As dignitaries and civil society gather in The Hague this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Court stands poised to demonstrate its maturity as it weighs a request to investigate members of the US Central Intelligence Agency and the US armed forces for torture and other serious crimes committed in Afghanistan or in Eastern Europe in the so-called “war on terror.”
A criminal investigation of US torture – and other serious crimes in Afghanistan – is long overdue.
In November, the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, lodged a request to open a formal investigation following a decade-long preliminary investigation into possible international crimes committed in Afghanistan since it became a member of the court in May 2003
It also follows longstanding efforts by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) to hold high-level Bush administration officials accountable, through the principle of universal jurisdiction, for many of the human rights violations that the imminent ICC prosecution would encompass.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/16/icc-us-accountable-for-crimes-afghanistan