November 14, 2001
The possibility that Osama bin Laden might be arrested by another UN member state underlines the need for the international criminal court rejected by the United States, the UN spokesman said Wednesday.
Bin Laden was last seen in Afghanistan, where US troops are trying to track him down for his alleged involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Asked what would happen if bin Laden were arrested in another country, spokesman Fred Eckhard said that "once and if Osama bin Laden is captured by a national authority, it would be obliged to hand him over, I guess, to the UN."
He noted that Security Council resolutions oblige all member states to deny safe haven to terrorists.
"It would be then up to the Security Council to decide on how to arrange for a trial, whether that would be done by a national authority or whether they would go through the expensive and complicated procedure of establishing a new tribunal," Eckhard said.
"If we had an international criminal tribunal, we would have somewhere to send someone like Osama bin Laden, given the charges against him, but we don't have that yet," he added.
So far, 42 countries have ratified the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), which will try future cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC will come into existence when 60 countries have ratified the treaty.
The United States, under pressure from Republicans in the Congress, is almost alone among Western nations in rejecting the idea of the ICC.
Eckhard said that if bin Laden came into the hands of the UN, "either we would have to create an ad hoc tribunal or rely on some national judicial system that could give him a fair trial."
He refused to comment on the order signed by US President George W. Bush on Tuesday which would allow for certain terrorist suspects to be tried before a special military panel instead of civilian courts.
White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said the new rule would apply to "any individual who is not a United States citizen" and who belongs to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
