by Phil Shiner on 02-03-2014
The complaint to the ICC has been made to explore the potential of criminal accountability
Former British prime minister Tony Blair. Photograph: Blair Gable/Reuters
As a matter of law, Tony Blair can never face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court because the elements of crime for the crime of aggression have not been agreed (G2,
27 February). However, on 10 January 2014 my firm and the European
Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights lodged a formal complaint to
the ICC about the systemic abuse of hundreds of Iraqis in the period
2003 to 2008 while being interrogated by UK interrogators. The defence
secretaries at the material time knew (or ought to have known) that
interrogators were being trained to use, and were using, coercive
interrogation techniques that were in flagrant breach of international
legal standards. But who insisted the UK had an interrogation capability
in Iraq
that allowed us to punch our weight with our co-illegal aggressors, the
US, knowing that a lawful approach to interrogation did not permit the
use of such techniques? The complaint to the ICC has been made to
explore the potential of criminal accountability for such systemic
issues at the very top of the military, civil service and potential
chain of command.Phil Shiner
Principal, Public Interest Lawyers
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