Belgian court rules Sharon can be tried after leaving office

BRUSSELS, February 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Belgium's highest court ruled Wednesday, February 12, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could face war crimes charges once he leaves office.

The landmark ruling of Cour de cassation, the top Belgian appeals court, was in response to an appeal by 23 Palestinian survivors of Sabra and Shatila massacres during which between 800 and 2,000 Palestinian refugees were slaughtered by an Israeli forces and allied Christian militia in 1982, Agence France-Presse reported.

It also cleared the way for a war crimes trial of Israeli General Amos Yaron, who was the Israeli military commander in Beirut when Israeli forces entered the two Palestinian refugee camps and he ordered flares to be dropped over the camps.

Yaron, now Director General of Israeli Defense Ministry, has been sent by Israel to the United States to hold negotiations with the Bush administration to grant Israel $8bn (£5bn) in loan guarantees.

The suit was brought under Belgium's 1993 "universal jurisdiction" law, which was adopted enables Belgian courts to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide regardless of where the incidents occurred.

The court ruled that "international custom does not allow heads of government to be the subject of legal action in a foreign state". But it overturned a ruling made in June 2002 by a lower court, which said that Belgium's "universal competence" law only applies if the alleged perpetrator is in Belgium.

The Israeli officials vehemently slammed the ruling as a lead to strained relations.

"We are not satisfied by this decision and I am troubled for the good conduct of relations between Belgium and Israel," foreign ministry official Danny Shek told reporters outside the courthouse.

Ambassador Yehudi Kenar has been "called to Jerusalem for consultations", a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that the Belgian ambassador to Israel, Wilfred Geens, had been ordered to appear at the foreign ministry Thursday.

Cited by state television, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the court decision was giving legitimacy to terrorism.

Shimon Peres, the centre-left Labor party's foreign minister in Sharon's last government, called the ruling "very serious" and said Belgium did not have the right to judge Israel, public television reported.

"Belgium cannot be Israel's judge," said Peres. It has not gone through (the same things) as Israel and cannot judge history," he added.

An Israeli tribunal in 1983 found Sharon, who was Defense Minister at the time, to be indirectly responsible for the carnage. Sharon was forced to resign.

One of the lawyers for the Palestinian survivors, Chibli Mallat, was delighted that Sharon could eventually stand trial in Belgium.

"It's one of the most important rulings that there has been in international law," he said.

The New York-based lobby group Human Rights Watch hailed the ruling, which came as a surprise to legal observers in Belgium.

"It's a huge victory not only for the victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacres but for all victims of grave crimes who have put their hopes in the Belgian law of universal competence," HRW's Reed Brody told Agence France Presse (AFP)

Under the Belgian law, four Rwandans were found guilty in 2001 of participating in the 1994 genocide in their homeland, which left an estimated one million people dead.