Jordan Times
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Draft law seeks to give
immunity to US citizens from ICC
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — The government will “very soon” be ready to present the Lower House with
the final draft of an agreement with the United States, under which the Kingdom
undertakes to refrain from prosecuting US citizens at the International Criminal
Court (ICC) for war crimes committed abroad, a senior official said on
Wednesday.
In her weekly news conference, Government Spokesperson Asma Khader acknowledged
that Jordan entered the deal after making amendments to the original version of
the bilateral agreement, known as Article 98, “which was required [by the US]
from several world countries.”
“But it must be presented to the Parliament for endorsement, and the government
`very soon' will take a decision in this regard when the final draft is ready,”
she added.
Khader noted that a key restriction Jordan introduced to the agreement was that
exemption from prosecution at the ICC does not apply to US citizens of dual
nationality.
This condition, according to Khader, is meant as a precautionary measure to
prevent human rights violations and infringements of ICC law, which looks into
cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The court has set up
a committee to work out mechanisms to deal with crimes of aggression, she added.
She stressed that the ICC system is a “complementary judicial system,”
explaining that the court will look into cases not seen by the concerned local
judicial system.
The government last summer rejected as baseless reports that the US was
threatening to stop assistance to Jordan and other countries that refuse to sign
Article 98 agreements.
Officials acknowledged that some congressmen called for aid to be cut off to any
country that refused to sign a bilateral agreement with the US with regard to
this issue.
Jordan has insisted that in all cases it retains the right to file cases against
“anyone who commits forced immigration crimes to Jordan,” citing repeated
threats from Israeli hardliners to transfer Palestinians to Jordan.
The US, in May last year, withdrew its controversial attempt to renew immunity
for its troops from war crimes prosecution at the Hague-base court for another
year after it failed to guarantee them immunity.
The Bush administration objects to the ICC, claiming it may interfere with
global peacekeeping obligations and could become politicised.