U.S. troops in Iraq can’t be prosecuted by the International Crimes Court, Iraqi Expert says

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Legal Expert, Tareq Harb, has said on Monday that the U.S. troops can’t be prosecuted by the Special International Crimes Court for committing war crimes because the United States of America is not member in the court and had not signed the Rome Treaty for 1998 related to the formation of the International Court of Crimes. The International Crimes Court had been officially formed in 2002, as the first court capable of trying individuals, accused of crimes of mass annihiliation, anti-humanity crimes, war crimes and assault crimes, with 105 states who signed its establishment law, till November, 2007. Another 31 states have signed the Rome Law, but they have not approved it yet, whilst a number of states including China, India, the US and Russia, had criticized the court, and those states have refused to sign the court’s document. Harb told IraqiNews.com: “the crimes committed before the date of the withdrawal of the U.S. combat troops from the Iraqi cities can’t be treated in raising a court against those troops, but the crimes committed since January 1, 2009, (the date of the implementation of the Security Agreement) will be dealt by the Iraqi judiciary and law.” The U.S. comat troops have withdrawn from Iraq at the end of last August, according to the Security Agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington at the end of 2008, provided the remaining U.S. troops, estimated at 50,000, would end their withdrawal at the end of next year. Harb also said that “it’s the right of the victims to sue the American troops and raise court cases against them in Americna courts.” The Wikileaks Electronic position had published documents related to the war against Iraq, that were leaked from the U.S. Defense Department, saying that the American troops had committed violations against Iraqi citizens and accusitions for involvement of Iraqi government bodies with having carried out torture operations against prisoners. SKH 1