On Friday 27 May at 10 am the ICJP will be hosting an international press conference at Doughty Street Chambers, London to provide a crucial update about a complaint lodged with the International Criminal Court in April 2022 regarding the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli Security Forces.
Leading lawyers from Bindmans LLP and Doughty Street Chambers were instructed by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Palestinian Journalist’s Syndicate (PJS) and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) to submit the complaint which asked the ICC prosecutor to launch in investigation into the targeted killing and maiming of journalists and the destruction of the media infrastructure in Palestine.
The complaint details the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists on behalf of four named victims – Ahmed Abu Hussein, Yaser Murtaja, Muath Amarneh and Nedal Eshtayeh – who were killed or maimed by Israeli snipers while covering demonstrations in Gaza. All were wearing clearly marked PRESS vests at the time they were shot. The complaint also details the targeting of media and bombing of the Al-Shorouk and Al-Jawhara Towers in Gaza City in May 2021.
On 11 May 2022, just days after the ICC prosecutor acknowledged receipt of the complaint, Palestinian American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, was shot in the occupied West Bank. A long-time TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, Shireen was killed while covering Israeli army raids in the city of Jenin. There are strong grounds to believe that Shireen was shot by Israeli armed forces. Her case joins a long list of journalists targeted by the Israeli armed forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Exclusively, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Walid Al-Omari, will join key speakers from Doughty Street Chambers and Bindmans LLP along with speakers from the International Federation of Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the ICJP to present key parts of the complaint lodged in April and to provide an important update on the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.
