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Al Jazeera takes journalist Shireen Abu Akleh killing to ICC
Abu Akleh was shot dead in May 2022 while covering an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank
Photo: Twitter
Al Jazeera has submitted the case of slain Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The network filed the papers on Tuesday saying Abu Akleh was deliberately killed by Israeli forces.
Abu Akleh, a television correspondent with Al Jazeera for 25 year,s was shot dead in May 2022 while covering an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shot dead by Israeli forces
New evidence
Al Jazeera said it has since unearthed “new evidence” of the death of the Palestinian-American reporter.
The new evidence submitted by Al Jazeera shows “Shireen Abu Akleh” and her colleagues were directly fired at by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)”, Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement.
The statement added the evidence overturns claims by Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed in crossfire and it “confirms, without any doubt, that there was no firing in the area where Shireen was, other than the IOF shooting directly at her”.
“The evidence shows that this deliberate killing was part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera,” the statement said.
Wider attack
The request submitted to the ICC is presented “in the context of a wider attack on Al Jazeera, and journalists in Palestine”, Rodney Dixon, a lawyer for Al Jazeera, said.
“It’s not a single incident, it’s a killing that is part of a wider pattern that the prosecution should be investigating to identify those who are responsible for the killing and to bring charges against them,” he said.
Israel won’t cooperate
The ICC, which was set up in 2002 as a war crimes court of last resort, last year launched a probe in the Palestinian territories.
But Israel is not an ICC member, disputes the court’s jurisdiction and said it would not cooperate with any external probe into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.
“No one will investigate IDF (Israeli military) soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement AFP reported.
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