THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday put foreigners fighting with Islamic State jihadists on notice that she was seeking ways of bringing to justice those behind crimes in Syria and Iraq. “We definitely have jurisdiction over those nationals,” Bensouda told AFP, in an interview in the ICC’s new headquarters on the outskirts of The Hague. France has been among countries upping the pressure at the United Nations Security Council to mandate the ICC to investigate war crimes committed by all sides in the five-year civil war in Syria. But so far any attempts to agree to a resolution giving the ICC powers to investigate crimes in Syria have been vetoed by Russia, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and China. But she stressed: “We’re still trying to complete the preliminary examination process, and in doing so we reach out.

Source: Manila Times November 23, 2016 13:57 UTC