Thaindian News

Tehran, Jan 16 (IANS) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israeli leaders and their western allies will soon face trial in his country for their crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, the official IRNA news agency reported.”Iran’s judiciary system is now providing a bill in conformity with international law to bring to justice the Israeli leaders for crimes against humanity in Gaza,” Ahmadinejad told reporters in Tehran Thursday.

“The bill which is to be handed over to Majlis (Iranian parliament) will authorise the the country’s criminal court to bring to justice the Zionist officials for their war crimes,” he said.

He advised other countries to follow suit.

“Lawyers around the world have been assigned to formulate setup of the criminal court,” he added.

Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly has requested an advisory opinion from the Hague-based International Court of Justice for its intervention amid calls that Israeli actions in Gaza are violation of the Geneva Conventions and the international criminal law.

Richard Falk, the UN’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, has said: “There is a well-grounded view that both the initial attacks on Gaza and the tactics being used by Israel are serious violations of the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, international law and international humanitarian law.”

“There is consensus among independent legal experts that Israel is an occupying power and is therefore bound by the duties set out in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

“If there were political will there could be an ad-hoc tribunal established to hear allegations of war crimes,” Falk said.

In the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Thirteen Israelis have also lost their lives, nine of whom were military personnel.