Now he is finally busy
NEWS:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=226053
Mahathir's war crimes tribunal kicks off
Wednesday Feb 7 20:13 AEDT
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has convened a war crimes tribunal to hear complaints by Iraqis and Palestinians against world leaders including John Howard and George W Bush.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, which opened with a preliminary meeting, would not have the legal authority of an international organization and could not impose penalties, but its main aim was to condemn leaders in history books.
Mahathir reiterated that he expected Howard, Bush and Tony Blair to be among the leaders accused of committing crimes against humanity.
The nine-member tribunal is tasked with hearing cases recommended to it by a separate commission chaired by Mahathir.
The commission received its first petition on Wednesday signed by 10 people who called themselves victims of crimes against humanity, mostly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestinian territories.
"We of the commission look upon these (cases) as a human tragedy, not confined to any particular race, religion, creed or faith," Mahathir told more than 1,000 peace activists.
"This is a terrible time ... when powerful people are quite willing to sanction actions that are totally inhumane," he said. "I hope we will be able to achieve something in ways of assuaging the pain that has been suffered by so many people in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere."
It is not clear how long the commission will take to investigate the petition before the tribunal can start working.
"I hope we will be able to achieve something in ways of assuaging the pain that has been suffered by so many people in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere," Mahathir said.
Most of the tribunal members are Malaysian legal experts and former judges, including Chairman Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, a former judge in Malaysia's highest court.
He said the tribunal plans to add more international members "so that we will be properly represented by eminent jurists from all corners of the globe".
The complainants include Ali Shalala Daisy, an Iraqi who claims he suffered brutal torture including electric shocks while in detention at the Abu Grab prison, and Walled Selah, a Palestinian doctor who worked in occupied territories.
"We the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and such other crimes as contained in the relevant international laws and conventions do hereby petition (the commission) to act on our petition pertaining to the various injustices committed against us," said the memorandum submitted to Mahathir.
Six complainants submitted individual written complaints citing alleged violations, mostly by the US and Israel, in places such as Abu Grab, the former Iraqi insurgency stronghold of Tallulah, and JunÃԚÔ�šÃ”šn in the West Bank.
"It pains me greatly to see that my country that I so love and cherish ... is nothing but the epitome of destruction perpetrated by the most powerful and supposedly democratic country in the world," said Faze Laramie, an Iraqi woman whose Baghdad home was destroyed in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
